The Love of My Life
by 7thheavengirl08
Summary: THIS STORY IS NOW COMPLETE! When more tragedy strikes the Camdens, how will they handle it so soon after Eric's death? WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH. Chapters 12 & 13 now up! Sequel to Hello & Goodbye. Please Read & Review!
1. The Secret

A/N: Well, here it is, the sequel to Hello & Goodbye. I hope you enjoy it! As always, please read & review!!

Disclaimer: I own no part of this story except for the characters that I have created.

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"Lucy. Time to get up. Luce! Come on, it's time to get up." Kevin called softly.

Lucy opened her eyes to see her husband, dressed in his uniform, leaning over her.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Come on, it's almost eight o'clock. You need to get up. Savannah's eating breakfast and Erin is still asleep. I need to leave for work or I'm going to be late." Kevin brushed a kiss across Lucy's forehead. "Come on, get up."

With a sigh, Lucy pushed back the covers and got out of bed. "Do you really have to leave for work right now?" she asked. "I feel like I never see you anymore. You've been working a lot of overtime recently."

"I know, Luce, and I'm sorry, but it can't be helped. Sergeant Michaels is gone, so that means that everyone has to work extra hours. There's no way I can get out of it. Look, as soon as Sergeant Michaels gets back, I'll take some time off and we can spend some time as a family, okay?"

"Okay. When is he supposed to get back?"

"I don't know. He's a witness in a case, so I guess whenever he's finished. It could be a little while." Seeing Lucy's look of disappointment, Kevin quickly added, "I'll try to get off early tonight, okay? I'll call and let you know. Now I've really got to get going or I'll be late." He gave Lucy a quick kiss goodbye then rushed out the door.

Lucy put her robe on then went into the kitchen to check on Savannah. She was still sitting at the table eating breakfast. Lucy quietly walked up behind her and covered Savannah's eyes with her hands. "Guess who?" she whispered in Savannah's ear.

Savannah smiled as reached up to cover Lucy's hands with her own. They had played this game ever since Savannah was a baby. "Mommy!" She said as she pulled Lucy's hands away from her eyes.

Lucy leaned down and kissed the top of her oldest daughter's head. "Are you done eating?" When Savannah nodded, Lucy continued, "Come sit on my bed and watch cartoons. I'm going to get a shower real quick. Okay?"

"Okay." Savannah replied as she climbed off her chair.

Lucy and Savannah went to Kevin and Lucy's bedroom, where Lucy turned on the TV to some cartoons. "Stay here, okay? I'll be done in a few minutes."

When Lucy was done in the shower, she and Savannah went to wake Erin up. "She's being a sleepy head today." Lucy said. She walked over to Erin's crib. "Erin, time to wake up. Erin." When Erin didn't respond, Lucy reached down and shook her gently. She still didn't wake up, so Lucy shook her a little harder. "Erin, wake up!" When Erin still didn't wake up, Lucy picked her up. "Erin! Wake up!"

Lucy was scared. Still holding Erin, she ran back to her room and grabbed the phone.

"Officer Kinkirk speaking." Kevin said, answering his cell phone as he sorted through some of the papers on his desk.

"Kevin, I can't wake Erin up! She's breathing and everything, but she won't wake up. I've tried everything; I don't know what to do!"

"Okay, Lucy, calm down. Are you sure she's breathing?"

"Yes! She's breathing and she has a pulse but she's not waking up!"

"I'm on my way, Luce. Just hag on, okay? Call the squad. I'll be there as soon as possible."

Kevin hung up and quickly got up from his desk. Roxanne, who had been sitting at her desk right across from his, got up as well. "What's wrong, Kevin?" she asked.

"Lucy can't get Erin to wake up," he said while searching for his keys on the desk. "I've got to get home. Lucy's calling the squad."

Roxanne picked Kevin's keys up off the desk. "I'm coming with you." she insisted.

"Fine. I don't care. Just get in." Kevin said. He and Roxanne were now out in the parking lot. Kevin opened the driver's side door, climbed in, and started the engine. He buckled himself in, and then glanced over to make sure that Roxanne was buckled as well. Seeing that she was, he quickly shifted into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.

When he and Roxanne reached Kevin and Lucy's house, a squad was already sitting in the driveway, its lights flashing. Kevin threw the car into park, turned off the engine, and ran into the house.

"Lucy!" he called. "Lucy, where are you?" He ran up the stairs and was almost to Erin's room when Lucy came out. "How is she?" he asked.

"She's awake. She woke up a few minutes after the paramedics got here." Lucy led Kevin back into Erin's room, where the paramedics were just finishing up.

"What's wrong with my daughter?" he asked. "Why wouldn't she wake up?"

"We're not sure. She needs to have some tests run. My advice would be o call her doctor and get an appointment for as soon as possible. That will save you from having to wait for hours on end in the emergency room." one of the paramedics replied.

Kevin showed the paramedics out, and then went back upstairs to be with Lucy and Erin. He glanced around the room. "Where's Savannah?" he asked, not seeing her.

Lucy looked around. "I don't know. She was just here. Savannah! Savannah, where are you?"

Roxanne came into the room then, holding Savannah. "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you; I just figured it would be easier if Savannah was out of the way."

Lucy sighed in relief. "Thanks, Roxanne. Would you mind watching her for a few more minutes?"

"Not at all." She replied. She started to leave the room, then stopped and turned around. "Oh, by the way, I put us temporarily out of service, Kinkirk."

"Thanks, Roxanne." Kevin said gratefully. He then turned back to Lucy, who had just laid Erin back in her crib. "Are you okay, Luce?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

Lucy nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. It just scared me when I couldn't get her to wake up. Oh, Kevin, I don't know what I'd do if I lost Erin, especially so soon after Dad's death." Lucy started crying.

"Shh, it's okay, Erin's fine now, and we're going to take her to the doctor to get checked out, okay? Nothing's going to happen to her, I promise."

"I was so scared, Kevin. I stood there and called her, and she wouldn't wake up. I tried shaking her, and that didn't work either. She always wakes up when you pick her up, Kevin, but this time she didn't. She stayed asleep. What if there's something really wrong with her?"

"Don't even think about that right now, Luce. We'll call Sarah and see if we can get an appointment for Erin with her. I'm sure that we can. She always leaves periods open for emergencies. I need to get back to the station now. Will you be okay here by yourself or do you want me to call someone to come over?"

"I'll be fine, Kevin."

"Are you sure? I can always call Rose to come over and stay with you."

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine. You and Roxanne had better get back to work now, before you get in trouble. I'll call Sarah, and once I get an appointment, I'll call and let you know, okay?"

"Okay." Kevin leaned down and kissed his wife. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will." Lucy picked Erin back up and followed him out of the room. They walked down the hall together to Savannah's room, where she and Roxanne were playing.

"Roxanne, we'd better get back to the station. You ready?"

Roxanne stood up. "I'm ready."

"Okay, then, let's go." Kevin said. He gave his wife and daughters each a kiss, then left. Roxanne started to follow him, but Lucy stopped her.

"Roxanne, thank you for watching Savannah. It was a big help."

"You're welcome, Lucy. I'll see you later. I'd better go before that husband of yours leaves without me."

Once they were back at the station, Kevin sent an email to Sergeant Michael, explaining what had happened and letting him know that he'd call him if anything else came up.

Once he was done, Roxanne spoke up. "Kinkirk, we need to talk."

Kevin looked surprised. "About what?"

"About you and Lucy and the girls. Something's not right between you and Lucy. I can tell. What happened to you? You used to be such a family man. Now look at you. You're working long hours and you're hardly ever home. The old Kevin would have taken the rest of today off after what happened this morning. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had taken two days off. You hardly stayed long enough to make sure that everything was okay. Why the change?"

"I did too stay!" Kevin argued. "The paramedics said that Erin was okay. There was no reason for me to stay any longer when I'm needed here at the station. We're short handed right now, in case you haven't noticed. I'm needed here right now. And about not spending time with my family, I think that's my own business, not yours. I promised Lucy that once Sergeant Michaels gets back I'll take a couple of days off to spend with her and the girls. Not that it's any of your business," he added.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I know you stayed long enough to make sure that Erin was okay, but what about Lucy? After everything that she just went through with her dad, don't you think that she has a right to be a little scared and upset? I know that I would be. Even without everything that happened to her dad, she still has a reason to be upset. I know that I personally would be terrified if I had a baby and couldn't get her to wake up. Oh, that lame excuse about being shorthanded? It doesn't cut it with me, Kinkirk. I still find time to go home and spend time with Chandler. You could just tell them no when they ask if you want some more hours, you know. You don't have to pull all of these extra shifts."

Kevin sighed. "Look, do we have to discuss this right now? I'm really not in the mood for it."

"Fine. Just do me a favor and at least call Lucy, okay? I'm sure that she's worried and I know a phone call from you will do wonders."

"What, suddenly you know my own wife better than me? Don't you think I already know what Lucy would and wouldn't like? After all, she is my wife," Kevin responded angrily.

"Look, I'm sorry, Kinkirk, okay? Let's just drop it for right now. I didn't mean to start an argument." Roxanne stomped off. She needed to get away from Kevin for a little while. She couldn't figure out why on earth he was acting the way he was. It wasn't at all like him. She headed out to her car. She'd call Chandler and se if he had any ideas.

"Hello, Reverend Hampton speaking," Chandler answered his phone.

"Hi, it's me." Roxanne said.

"Hey, babe. What's up?" he asked, concerned. He could tell something was wrong by the tone of her voice.

"Kevin and I just had an argument."

Chandler was shocked. Kevin and Roxanne had always gotten along very well. "What was it about?"

Roxanne told him everything that had transpired at the Kinkirk house and what she had said to Kevin upon their arrival back at the station. "He's just not the same anymore, Chandler. It's almost like he doesn't want to go home."

"I'll tell you what. Let me go over to the house and see how Lucy's doing. If she's doing okay, I'll talk to her. If not, I'll call Annie and have her go over. Lucy will probably open up to her if there is something wrong, and Annie and I have gotten so close now that I know she'll tell me if something's up. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Chandler."

"No problem, baby. Love you."

Roxanne smiled. "Love you, too, hon. I've got to get back to work now. I'll see you tonight."

AS soon as Chandler got off the phone with Roxanne, he grabbed his keys and walked over to Lucy's house. He was glad that he had decided to work at home today, otherwise it may have been a little while before he could free himself up to pay Lucy a visit.

When Chandler arrived at the Kinkirk house, he knocked on the door. After just a couple of minutes, Lucy opened it.

"Hey, Lucy. Roxanne called and told me about what happened this morning. How are you doing?" CHandler asked.

Lucy started crying. "Oh, Chandler, you don't know how glad I am to see you. I was so scared when it happened and then Kevin had to go back to work right away. I didn't want to bug him, so I haven't called him."

Chandler led Lucy inside and sat her down on the couch. "Hey, Lucy, it's okay. Erin's fine. You and Kevin are going to take her to the doctor, and she'll end up being just fine. Stop worrying, okay?"

Lucy nodded, but Chandler could tell she was still a mess.

"Stay here. I'll get you something to drink and some aspirin for that headache."

Lucy's eyes opened wide at that last statement. "No!" she almost shouted. She calmed down. "Sorry. I don't want any aspirin. Just water is fine," she hurriedly replied.

Chandler gave Lucy a stern look. "You need some aspirin. Now, if there's a reason why you can't have it, tell me. Otherwise, you're taking some aspirin."

Lucy sighed. "I didn't want to tell anyone yet. I'm pregnant. I'll pass on the aspirin, but I will take that glass of water."

"You're pregnant, Lucy? Really? Does Kevin know yet?" Chandler asked excitedly.

"No, he doesn't. I've wanted to tell him for almost a moth now, but I haven't had a chance. He's been too busy at work and hasn't been home very much," she admitted softly.

"I'm sorry, Luce. Don't worry. Things will slow down at the station soon and you'll get a chance to tell him."

Lucy gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Chandler."

Chandler went to the kitchen and got Lucy a glass of water. While he was getting it, he called Annie.

"Camden Residence" One of the twins had answered the phone, but Chandler couldn't tell if it was Sam or David.

"Hey, this is Chandler. Can I speak to your mom?"

"Hi, Chandler. It's Sam. I'll get Mom for you. Hold on."

A couple of minutes later, Annie picked up the phone. "Hi Chandler," she said.

"Hey, Annie. I'm over at Kevin and Lucy's house right now and-"

Annie cut him off. "Is everything okay? Did something happen with Erin again?"

"No, Erin's fine. Everything's okay. I just stopped by to check on Lucy. I think she could really use her mom right now, Annie."

"Okay, I'll be right over. Thanks, Chandler."

"Sure, no problem," Chandler started to say, but realized Annie had hung up the phone without saying goodbye, something normal for the Camden house.

Chandler walked back into the living room and handed Lucy the glass of water. She took it and drank it greedily.

"SO, how far along are you?" CHandler asked when she was done.

"Two and a half months today," she said proudly.

"Wow. I thought you were farther along than that." CHandler said.

Lucy got a panicked look on her face. "Am I showing?" she asked, getting up to look at herself in the hall mirror. "I am," she groaned. "Oh, no!"

"Hey, Lucy, it's okay. No one will be able to tell unless they know you're pregnant."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive," Chandler replied. "Now just relax. Oh, by the way, I called your mom. She's coming over."

"Why did you do that?" Lucy asked.

"Because you could really use her right now. I can tell. Does she know…?"

"About the baby? Yes. I told her a couple of weeks ago when I was frustrated about not getting a chance to tell Kevin.

"Hello? Luce? Chandler?" Annie called from the front hallway.

"We're in the living room, Mom," Lucy called back.

A few seconds later, Annie appeared in the room. She went over to where Lucy was sitting and gave her a hug. "Where are the girls?" she asked.

"They're taking their naps," Lucy said.

Chandler stood up. "Well, I'm going to go ahead and get going. Let me know if you need anything, okay, Lucy?"

"Okay, Chandler. Thanks." Lucy replied.

At the station, Roxanne was just wrapping up paperwork and getting ready to leave for the day when Kevin came up to her desk. He perched on the corner. "Look, Roxanne, I'm sorry about earlier, Okay? I didn't mean to jump all over you like that. It's just kind of stressful right now with Sergeant Michaels gone. He's getting ready to promote me to Sergeant, which means that I'm supposed to take over all of his duties while he's gone. That's why I've been pulling so much overtime. I can't just leave when I'm scheduled to leave. I hate it, though, because it means less time with Lucy. I feel like I hardly get to see her anymore. If it doesn't get better even after Sergeant Michael's gets back, I'm going to let him know that I don't want the promotion anymore."

Roxanne gave him a smile. "It's fine, Kevin. I shouldn't have been so upset or nosy about this whole thing. Don't worry about it, okay? By the way, I just got an email from Sergeant Michaels that he sent to everyone; he's going to be back in two days. The training went faster than they expected."

Kevin's face visibly brightened at that news. "Yes! That means I can finally go home and spend time with Lucy and the girls."


	2. Telling Kevin

A/N: Well here's the next chapter to the sequel. I hope you enjoy it. PLEASE read AND REVIEW!!!! I only have 1 review on chapter 1 so far.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for what I have made up.

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"Lucy?" Kevin called softly as he entered their bedroom. It was late at night and he had just gotten off work. "Are you awake?"

Lucy sat up and squinted at the clock. It was 2 o'clock in the morning. "Kevin, what in the world were you doing out until am?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Luce. I got caught up with something at work. If I had known it would take as long as it did, I would have called."

"You got caught up with something or with someone? I talked to Chandler today. He said that Roxanne hasn't been working that much more than usual. She's your partner, Kevin. Your _partner._ If you're working late hours, why isn't she? I never thought I'd be asking you this question, but, Kevin Kinkirk, are you cheating on me?"

"Luce, listen, please, I can explain!" Kevin pleaded.

He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. However, when he tried to put an arm around Lucy, she stiffened. "Don't touch me. Answer my question," she said curtly.

"Lucy, I really have been working. I promise. I haven't been cheating on you, I really haven't. Please believe me!"

"I don't know if I can believe you anymore, Kevin. Why hasn't Roxanne been working long shifts and lots of overtime, too?"

"I wasn't going to tell you, but I think I need to now. Sergeant Michaels wants to promote me to Sergeant. He's about to be promoted to chief, and once he is he'll promote me to Sergeant. That's why I've been working so many extra hours without Roxanne. He assigned me to take over while he was gone."

"Does the promotion mean that you'll be working extra hours all the time?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know. Sergeant Michaels said it would require a little extra time, but after this week, I want to know what his definition of little is. If I'm going to be this busy all the time, I'm not going to take the promotion. I'm sorry about all the extra shifts I've been pulling recently. I really do want to be home more."

"I understand, Kevin. I want you to be home more, too. I'm sorry for doubting you and accusing you of cheating. I know that you really do love me. I love you, too. I never should have doubted you faithfulness to me." Lucy slid over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Kevin. "When is Sergeant Michaels going to be back?"

"Tomorrow. It was originally supposed to be another week, but the training went faster than expected."

"Does that mean that we'll have more time together as a family then?" Lucy wanted to know.

"It does. Starting tomorrow, I have two weeks off and I'm going to spend every moment possible of those two weeks with you and the girls."

"Could we maybe have Mom babysit the girls for a day?" Lucy wanted to know. "We haven't a day alone since Erin was born. Maybe tomorrow?"

Kevin looked disappointed. "I was hoping we could spend my first day off as a family."

"Kevin, please? I feel like I hardly know you anymore. Sergeant Michaels had been gone for three months now, and in those three months, you've only had about four days off. I haven't had a chance to talk to you at all recently."

"Okay, Luce. And I'm sorry about not spending time with you. It's not that I didn't want to; it's just that I've been so busy. These past three months have been the longest three months of my life."

Lucy's face brightened considerably. "Great! I'll call Mom and ask her right now." Lucy rushed to the phone and started dialing before Kevin could say anything.

Kevin grabbed the phone from her right before she dialed the last number. "Lucy, wait! Look at the time. If you call Mom now, you're going to wake her and the boys up and scare them for no reason at all," he admonished gently.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I forgot what time it was." Lucy said.

Kevin smiled. "That's okay, Luce. Come on, let's go to bed now. You can call Mom in the morning, okay?" He waited for Lucy to lie back down, and then gave her a kiss. "I love you, Luce."

"I love you, too, Kevin." she mumbled sleepily. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she had laid down.

Kevin smiled and went around to his side of the bed. By the time he had climbed in and gotten underneath the covers, Lucy was asleep.

The next morning, Kevin was awakened by the sound of someone getting sick in the bathroom. He quickly got out of bed and hurried to the bathroom. When he arrived, he saw Lucy kneeling in front of the toilet bowl, getting sick.

"Luce, are you okay?" he asked, concerned. He dropped down beside her and rubbed her back until she was done getting sick.

"I'm fine, Kevin, really. Don't worry about it." Lucy managed to get out before she began throwing up again.

"You're obviously not fine, Lucy. If you were fine, you wouldn't be in the bathroom throwing up," Kevin insisted. He wet a cloth with cool water and wiped her face with it. "When did it start?"

"A little while ago," Lucy replied, vaguely.

"Maybe I should call the doctor," Kevin said.

"No, Kevin, I'll be fine, I really will." Lucy insisted.

"If you're sure," Kevin said doubtfully.

"Yes, I'm sure," Lucy said. She started to stand up, but had to stop and grab hold of the counter.

Kevin immediately put his arm around her. "Luce, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just got a little dizzy, that's all. I'll be fine."

Kevin stood up and lifted Lucy into his arms. "Come on; let's get you back in bed. Are you sure you don't want me to call the doctor?"

"I'm sure. I already know what he'll say."

Kevin gently set Lucy on the bed. "You stay here. I'm going to call Mom and see if she can take the girls for the day. It'll give you a chance to rest."

Kevin picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Camden's house. Sam answered. "Camden residence," he said.

"Hi, Sam. Is Mom there?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, she's here. Just a minute." Kevin could here Sam calling for Annie over the phone.

A few minutes later, Annie's voice came over the phone. "Hi, Kevin."

"Hi, Annie. Hey, can you do Lucy and me a favor? Could you take the girls for the day? Lucy's not feeling well."

"Sure. What's wrong with Lucy?"

"She probably has the flu. She was in the bathroom getting sick this morning."

Annie frowned. Lucy still hadn't had a chance to tell Kevin that she was pregnant. Lucy had confided to her the other day that she'd been having a lot of morning sickness with this pregnancy. "Maybe I should call Rose or Ruthie and have one of them stay with Lucy while you're at work."

"I don't have to work today. Sergeant Michaels is back, so I took these next two weeks off."

"I'm glad. You've been working a lot recently. It will be good for you to have some time off and get some rest."

"I'm definitely looking forward to spending more time with Lucy and the girls. I just hope Lucy gets to feeling better again soon. What time should I bring the girls over?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll send Sam and David over right now to get them."

"Okay, great. Thanks, Annie." Kevin hung up the phone and went to get Savannah and Erin ready. He went into Savannah's room first.

"Savannah, time to get up. You get to go spend the day with Grandma."

Savannah opened her eyes and stretched. "Will Uncle David be there?"

"Yes, Uncle David will be there." Savannah and David were very close and Savannah love to spend time with him.

"Yay!" Savannah jumped out of bed. "I'll get ready fast, Daddy!"

"Okay. I'm going to go wake Erin up. You get ready then come to Erin's room.

Kevin walked down the hall to Erin's room and went in. "Erin, time to wake up, sweetie. You're going to Grandma's house."

Erin slowly opened her eyes. "Dada!" she said.

"Hey there, Angel. Come on, it's time to get up. You're going to go see Grandma today."

"MawMaw!" Erin said excitedly.

Kevin smiled. "That's right, MawMaw," he said as he picked her up. "Come on, let's get you dressed now."

Kevin was almost done getting Erin dressed when Savannah came in. "I'm ready, Daddy."

"Okay. I'm almost done getting Erin ready. Uncle Sam and Uncle David should be here any time now. Why don't you sit down on the floor over there and look at a book?" Lucy always kept a couple of books in Erin's room for Savannah to look at while she was getting Erin ready.

"Okay, Daddy."

Kevin had just finished getting Erin ready when he heard the door open. "Uncle David and Uncle Sam are here," he told the girls.

Savannah jumped up and was about to run out of Erin's room when Kevin said, "Wait for me, Savannah."

He picked up Erin and went into the kitchen, where he knew Sam and David would be waiting. He was right. Sam and David were sitting at the table, eating some blueberry muffins.

"Uncle David!" Savannah cheered as soon as she spotted him.

David got up from where he was sitting and held out his arms for Savannah. She gladly went to him and gave him a big hug. "Hey Savannah. Are you ready to go play?" he asked.

"Yes!' Savannah cheered excitedly.

David picked her up and Sam took Erin from Kevin. "Bye, guys! Have fun!" Kevin called as Sam, David, Savannah, and Erin went out the door.

When they were gone, Kevin went back to the bedroom to check on Lucy. She wasn't in there, however. Kevin went and looked in the bathroom, and sure enough, she was once again in there, getting sick.

"Luce, let me call the doctor, please?" Kevin pleaded as he knelt down beside her and rubbed her back.

"No, Kevin. I'll be fine by this afternoon. Don't worry about it."

"Luce…"

"Kevin, I'll be fine! Stop worrying!" Lucy insisted. She stood up and started to go back to the bedroom, but Kevin stopped her.

"Lucy, are you…" he started to ask, then stopped.

"Am I what?" she asked, wondering if he had finally caught on.

"No, you couldn't be. You never had this with the other ones."

"Kevin, am I what?" Lucy asked again.

Kevin stopped and looked at Lucy. "Are you pregnant?"

Lucy nodded.

"You are? We're going to have another baby?" Kevin practically shouted.

Lucy laughed. "Yes, Kevin. That's usually what happens when someone's pregnant. Although," she added dryly, "I seem to recall that I was always the one to have the baby in the past."

Kevin laughed. "You're right. How far along are you? When did you find out? Why didn't you tell me before? How long have you had morning sickness?"

"Can I get back in bed first, and then answer your questions?" Lucy asked.

Kevin scooped her up and carried her back to the bedroom, placing her gently on the bed. He then covered her up with a blanket and crawled in bed beside her.

Lucy snuggled up next to him. "Now, what was the first question again?"

"How far along are you?"

"Two and a half months."

Kevin figured it up. "That was my last day off, wasn't it?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes, it was. I wanted to tell you sooner, but because you never had a day off, I didn't get a chance to."

Kevin looked contrite. "I'm sorry, Luce. I should have made it a point to spend more time with you and the girls. That was my fault."

"What's done is done. It can't be changed, Kevin. What matters is what's in the future."

"What I see in the future is a happy family of five," Kevin stated.

Lucy smiled. "That's good, because that's what I see, too."

"When did you find out, Luce? How long have you known?"

"I've known for about a month and a half now."

"That long?" Kevin asked.

Lucy nodded. "I never had a chance to tell you. I wanted to."

"I'm sorry, Luce. I'll do better, from now on. I promise. Now, how long have you had this morning sickness? You'd think I would have caught on from that."

"I've had it pretty much from the beginning. You were hardly ever home in the morning, and if you were, you were usually either sleeping or going out the door while I was getting sick."

Kevin was mad at himself. "I'm so sorry, Luce. I haven't been a very good husband recently, have I? How long does the morning sickness usually last? Till mid-morning?"

"It depends. Some days it's worse than others. Most days it lasts until early evening, but sometimes I have it almost all day."

Kevin felt horrible, "I'm sorry, Baby. I should have been here for you. I promise you that from now on I'll be here for you. Have you been to the doctor yet?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes. After I took the home pregnancy test and it came back positive, I went to see Matt."

"What did he say?"

"He said that everything looks good so far. He told me to take it easy and make sure that I get enough rest. I've had two appointments with him so far."

"What did he say at the second one?"

"Pretty much the same thing," Lucy replied vaguely.

Kevin could tell that she was getting sleepy, so he said, 'You stay here and sleep. I need to run a few errands then I'll be back."

Once he made sure Lucy was asleep, Kevin got in the car and drove to Matt's office. When he arrived, he asked the receptionist, "May I see Dr. Camden please?"

The receptionist, obviously someone new because she didn't recognize Kevin, was very reluctant. "DO you have an appointment?" she asked.

"No, but he said I could stop by anytime. I'm his brother-in-law, Kevin Kinkirk. Would you please let him know that I'm here?"

"Mr. Kinkirk, Dr. Camden has had a very busy day, and I'm not sure-"

"Look, ma'am, I really need to see Matt." Kevin pulled out his wallet and gave her one of his cards from the station. "It's Officer Kinkirk, by the way."

The receptionist became flustered. "Hold on just a second, please, Officer. I'll call Dr. Camden and let him know you're here." She immediately picked up the phone and called Matt. After talking to him for less than a minute she hung and said, "You can go on back, Officer."

"Thanks," said Kevin, holding back a grin. When he reached Matt's office, he knocked on the closed door.

"COme in," called Matt from where he sat behind his desk. When he saw that it was Kevin, he grinned. "I figured it was you when my receptionist said something about an officer wanting to see me."

Kevin laughed. "Yeah, I hate doing that to them, but she wasn't going to let me see you, so I gave her one of my cards and kindly informed her that it was Officer Kinkirk, not Mr. Kinkirk."

"Well, now that you're back here, what did you want to see me about?"

Kevin pulled up a chair and sat down across from Matt. "Lucy."

Matt's face lost its smile. "So, she finally told you she that she's pregnant? You were finally home long enough for that, huh? I'm surprised."

Kevin was shocked. He had not been expecting this kind of a response from Matt, but he should have known that Matt would respond that way. "Look, Matt, I'm sorry. I should have been home more, I know that. I just got so caught up in making sure that everything ran smoothly with Sergeant Michaels gone that I lost my focus. I'm going to do better now, I promise."

Matt stood up and began pacing around his office. "Kevin, Lucy may have problems with this pregnancy. With all the problems that she had with Savannah, and losing the twins, and then the problem that she had with Erin, this is going to be a high risk pregnancy."

Kevin was confused. "But she only had that one problem with Erin, and that was because she was dehydrated."

Matt stopped his pacing and looked at Kevin. "I realize that, but when you consider her past history, it's a miracle. It could happen again, but I wouldn't get my hopes up too high."

"Are you saying that she could lose this baby?" Kevin asked fearfully.

Matt sighed. "There is always that possibility. By all rights, she should have lost Savannah, considering the amount of trouble she had. You need to watch Lucy closely, make sure that she stays well rested and nourished. As much as possible, keep her from getting stressed."

Kevin stood up and faced Matt. "Matt, tell me the truth. How much of a chance does Lucy have of making it through this pregnancy without something happening to the baby?"

Looking Kevin in the eye, Matt replied, "Without something happening to the baby? About a thirty percent chance. Without something happening to Lucy? About a twenty percent chance."

Without taking his eyes off of Matt, Kevin sat down in the chair that he had just gotten up from. He was shocked. He had not expected to hear what eh had just heard. He had prepared himself to hear the worst about the baby, but he hadn't even considered that something could happen to Lucy as well. "Matt, what could happen to Lucy? What do you when you say there's only a twenty percent chance of Lucy making it through without something happening to her?"

Matt sighed and perched himself on the corner of his desk closest to Kevin. "I can't say for sure what will happen. A million different things could happen. I'd say that probably the best-case scenario is that she develops toxemia and is put on bed rest. We'd probably have to take the baby in that situation, but we'd wait as long as possible. That would depend on when in the pregnancy she develops it."

"And the worst case scenario?" Kevin asked

Matt shifted positions and took awhile to answer. Although he had hoped that Kevin wouldn't ask that question, he had somehow known that he would. "The worst case scenario would be losing both Lucy and the baby."

Kevin drove home in shock. He had gone to Matt to talk about Lucy's pregnancy, but he hadn't expected to hear what Matt had told him. He had known that Lucy's pregnancy would be high risk, but he hadn't known that it would be as serious as it was. His thoughts were all jumbled up and running in a million different directions.

After Kevin had gotten over the initial shock of being told of the risks, he had asked Matt if Lucy knew all of this. Matt had told him that she did, but she hadn't wanted Matt to tell Kevin. She had wanted to tell him when she was ready.

The only other people who knew besides Matt and Lucy were Sarah and Annie. Matt had told Lucy that Annie needed to know, especially if she wasn't going to tell Kevin right away, so she had asked Matt to tell her.

Annie's response had been much different than he had expected it to be. Rather than getting upset, she accepted the information quite well. She had asked several questions, just as Kevin had, but she hadn't gotten upset. Matt was concerned that maybe it just hadn't hit her yet. He knew that sooner or later, when it did fully register with her, she would need the support of all of her children, specially if something happened to Lucy.

Matt had encouraged Kevin to talk to Lucy about it and let her know that he knew. Although Lucy would be upset at first, he knew that it would be better for to know that Kevin knew rather than wait for her to tell him and then have her find out that he already knew. Kevin had agreed, but he knew that he couldn't go home yet. He needed to talk to someone about.

Kevin pulled into the driveway of the Camden's house and got out of his SUV. He then walked up to the front door and went in. "Mom?" he called.

Annie came out of the study. "Kevin," she said, surprised to see him. "What's wrong?" she asked. She could tell from the look on his face that something was wrong.

"Mom, I just talked to Matt. He told me." Kevin replied, keeping it vague just in case the twins or Savannah were listening.

Annie's face took on an expressions of concern. "We can talk in the study," she said, leading him into the room and closing the doors. Once they were both sitting down, Annie asked, "Has Lucy told you anything? Did you know that she was pregnant?"

"She just told me that she was pregnant this morning after Sam and David picked up Erin and Savannah. I should have known. I've been so blind. I can't believe how much I let work interfere with my family. She's been having morning sickness from the beginning and I didn't even know! Even when I found her in the bathroom this morning getting sick, I didn't even think that she could be pregnant. She had to tell me! A year ago, that never would have been the case. How could I have been so stupid?"

Annie just sat there and let Kevin rant and rave for a few minutes. She knew that he needed to get it out, and it would be better for him to do it know rather than later. When he was finished, she asked, "Kevin, what was your first reaction when Matt told you about the risks of Lucy having this baby."

"I was scared. I don't think I could go on if anything happened to her. She's my whole life. I don't know what I'd do without her. At first, when Matt just told me that there was a risk to the baby, I was worried, but I wasn't scared like I am now. I know that we could get through losing another baby. I'm not saying it will be easy, but we could do it. But if something happened to Lucy? There's no way I'd be able to go on."

Annie placed her hand over his. "I felt the same way when Eric went in for open heart surgery, then again when I found out about his enlarged heart, and again while in the waiting room at the hospital, knowing that he was going to die. But when I was in the hospital room with him, he told em that I needed to go on without him. Sam and David still need me, as do you, Lucy, Savannah, and Erin, Matt and Sarah and their kids, Mary and Carlos and their kids, Simon and Rose, and Ruthie and Peter. Just like Savannah and Erin will need you if something happens to Lucy. I know that right now it doesn't seem like you could go on without her, but you can. You have to. Also, you can't live life right now as if she were already dead, or as if she were dying. That's something that I learned with Eric. I couldn't live life thinking of him as dead, or thinking that he was definitely going to die. I had to live life as if everything would be okay. If not, I would have myself crazy, not to mention him and everyone else as well."

"How did you do it, Annie? How did you live each day and appear so calm knowing that he could die?"

"I wasn't always as calm as I appeared to be. There were nights where I would sit down in the kitchen at the table and cry. I was scared to death of losing Eric. I knew that I had to act like I was fine, otherwise the kids would be scared. You need to tell Lucy how you feel. The worst thing that I ever did was to keep all of my emotions locked inside of me. At first, I didn't tell Eric how scared I was or how I felt, and it put a strain in our relationship. When I finally told him, he helped me with those feelings and he told me how he felt about it."

Kevin glanced down at his watch. He had been gone for almost two hours now, and he knew that if Lucy wasn't already awake, she soon would be. "I've got to run. I need to get back home before Lucy starts worrying about me. Thanks, Mom," he said.

Annie walked him to the door. "If you or Lucy need any help, just give me a call. The boys can watch your girls for awhile."

"I will, Mom."

Kevin climbed back into his SUV and drove the few minutes to his and Lucy's house.

When he walked into the house, he found Lucy in the kitchen, looking in the refrigerator for something to eat. "Hey, Luce. How long have you been awake?" he asked.

"For about ten minutes or so. Where'd you go to?" she asked curiously.

"I went to Matt's office," he replied, curious as to what her reaction would be.

Lucy almost dropped the jug of milk that was in her hand, but caught it just before it hit the floor. "Oh, really?" she tried to act casual, but Kevin could tell that she was very tense, wondering whether or not Matt had revealed her secret. "What did you two talk about?"

"You and the baby," was Kevin's answer. He walked over to where she was standing. "Lucy, we need to talk," he said seriously.

Lucy knew then that Matt had told him everything. Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes, and she brushed them away, only for more tears to form in their place. "He told you, didn't he?"

Kevin nodded. He placed his arm around his wife and led her to the couch in the living room. "Lucy, when were you going to tell me?" he asked.

"I didn't want you to know, at least not yet. You can't do anything about it. No one can."

Kevin could tell that she was scared, SHe tried to hide it, but he could tell. "Luce, I love you. We're going to get through this together. I'm scared too, Luce. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. I promise you, no matter what happens, I'll be there for you."


	3. Surprise!

A/N: Well here's the next chapter to the sequel. I hope you enjoy it. PLEASE read AND REVIEW!!!! I only have 1 review on chapter 1 so far.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for what I have made up.

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Two months had passed since Kevin had found out about Lucy's pregnancy. She was now almost five moths along in her pregnancy, and it had been a rough five months. SHe still had morning sickness every day; it hadn't gotten much better. The days that she had it all day were few and far between now, but it still lasted into the late afternoon most days. Just a few weeks ago, her ankles and feet had started to become very swollen, so he had taken her into Matt's office. Although he didn't find anything wrong, he put her on bed rest for afternoons to be on the safe side. He had also discovered that Lucy and Kevin were expecting twins. Although they were happy, it only complicated things more and made her pregnancy even more high risk.

Kevin opened the door to his and Lucy's house. He had just gotten back from picking up Erin and Savannah at Annie's. As soon as she found out that Lucy would have to go on afternoon bed rest, she offered to watch the girls, and Lucy and Kevin had gladly agreed. He took Savannah and Erin to their playroom, then went to his and Lucy's room to check on Lucy.

"Luce, are you awake?" he called softly, opening the door.

Lucy sat up. "I'm awake, Kevin. How was work?"

"It was fine. I picked up the girls from Mom's. They're in the playroom right now. How are you feeling today?"

"These two have been awfully active. They've been kicking like crazy all day long."

Kevin noticed how she tried to avoid answering his question. "Lucy, what's wrong. You need to tell me."

"It's nothing serious, Kevin. My back's been a little sore all day, that's all. Matt said that it's normal, considering the fact that I'm almost six months along with twins."

"So you called him? It was bad enough that you had to call him?" Kevin asked worriedly.

"No, it wasn't that bad. He called me to check up on me, so I told him about my back."

Just then, Kevin's cell phone rang. "Kinkirk speaking," he answered.

"Kinkirk, it's Michaels. Can you come in? We have three men out sick and the criminals seem to know it because we've been swamped with calls all day."

"I don't know. Let me check with Lucy." Kevin replied.

"I'll be fine, Kevin. Just take the girls back over to Mom's and go on into work. I'll be over later to pick them up."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yes, it's fine. I'll be fine. If I need anything, I'll call."

"Okay, if you're sure." He got back on the phone with Sergeant Michaels, who was now Chief Michaels. "Chief, it's me. I'll be in. Just give me about fifteen minutes."

"Sounds good, Kinkirk."

Kevin went into the girls' playroom. "Savannah, Erin, we need to go back over to Grandma's house. Come on." He picked up Erin and carried her out to the car. Once she was strapped into her car seat, he made sure that Savannah had gotten safely strapped into her booster seat, then got in and drove to Annie house.

Annie met them when he pulled up. "Does she suspect anything?" she asked.

Kevin shook his head. "Not a thing. She thinks that I'm going into work. I had Chief Michaels call me and act like he needed me to pull an extra shift. She should be over in about forty-five minutes or so."

Kevin and Annie had planned a surprise birthday party for Lucy. It hadn't been too hard to keep a secret from her. Most of the planning had been done in the afternoons while she was on bed rest.

"When is everyone going to start getting here?" he asked.

"Matt, Sarah, Keller, and Liam are already here and so are Simon and Rose. Peter and Ruthie should be getting here any time now. Carlos and Mary said that they probably wouldn't be here until the last minute. They have to wait for Charlie to get done at soccer practice. Of course, Chandler and Roxanne are still working on the cake over in the garage apartment. Chandler just called me and said that they're putting the finishing touches on it, so they should be here pretty soon," Annie replied, ticking everyone off on her fingers as she said their name.

"Good. Everyone should be here in plenty of time to surprise Lucy then. Where are you having them all park? If they park in the driveway, Lucy's going to see all of their cars." He looked around. "Where's Simon and Rose's car?"

Simon and Rose parked in the garage, which is why I have the van sitting out. You're going to park next door in Mrs. Simmons' garage. Everyone else can park in the driveway. Lucy will probably walk over here, so she more than likely won't see all the cars, and even if she does, it won't be unusual for me to have everyone over."

Annie and Kevin had gotten the girls out of their car seats and had just entered the Camden house. They were met at the door by Liam, Keller, Sam and David. "Hi, Kevin." Sam greeted him. Erin immediately reached for him. "Hi, Erin," he said, taking her from Kevin. "I'll take the kids upstairs to play so you guys can finish setting up without them underfoot." He took Keller's hand and took him and Erin upstairs. David followed with Savannah and Liam.

Kevin and Annie went into the kitchen where Matt and Sarah were doing last minute preparations for the party. "Hi, Kevin," Matt greeted him.

"Hey, Matt, Sarah. What still needs done?" he asked, not really talking to anyone in particular

Annie was about to answer when a knock sounded on the kitchen door. "You can get the door. It must be Chandler and Roxanne with the cake."

Kevin opened the door. It was, indeed, Chandler and Roxanne. Chandler held a beautiful cake with Happy Birthday, Lucy! written on it.

"Wow!" Kevin exclaimed. "The cake looks delicious."

"Thanks, Kevin," Roxanne replied. "I hope it tastes as good as it looks."

"I'm sure it will, babe," Chandler quickly reassured her. "Annie, where do you want the cake?" he asked as he and Roxanne entered the kitchen.

"Just set it here on the table. We're going to be having the party outside, but we'll just leave the cake in here for now." Annie replied.

"Mom! We're here!" Ruthie called, coming into the kitchen with Peter.

"Hi, Ruthie, Peter. Ruthie, can you go outside and help Simon and Rose decorate?" Annie asked.

"Sure, Mom," she replied.

When Ruthie had gone outside, Peter asked, "What do you need me to do, Mom?"

She glanced around the kitchen. "Umm, you can take the presents outside, I guess, then help decorate. There's really not very much left to do." Annie glanced up at the clock. "Carlos and Mary had better hurry up and get here or Lucy's going to beat them here."

"Did I hear someone mention me name?" Mary asked, coming into the kitchen with Ava and Charlie. Carlos was behind her with Erica.

Annie smiled. "Yes, I was just saying that if you guys didn't get here soon, Lucy would beat you here. But that's now going to happen now, thankfully. Go on outside. Everyone else is already out there, putting the finishing touches on the decorations." She then turned to Kevin. "Kevin, can you go up and get Sam and David? Tell them to bring the kids down. Lucy should be here any minute now."

Kevin, Mary, and Carlos did as Annie had instructed. Before long, everyone was gathered outside, waiting for Lucy to arrive.

They had only been out there a couple of minutes when Sam ran over to everyone and whispered, "She's coming!" They had had him watching over the hedge to give them some warning.

A minute later, when Lucy walked into the yard, everyone shouted, "Happy Birthday, Lucy!"

She stopped, shocked. "How did you guys pull this off?" she asked. "When did you plan it?"

Kevin walked over to her and put his arm around her, leading her over to where everyone else stood. "Mom and I planned it in the afternoons when I picked the girls up and on my days off. It wasn't that hard to keep it a secret from you."

Matt pulled a chair out for Lucy. "Here, Luce. Why don't you sit down?"

Lucy frowned. "Matt, I've been sitting or laying down all afternoon. Can't I stand for now?"

"Lucy, why don't you do as Matt says? Please?" Kevin asked.

Lucy sighed and sat down. "I can't fight both of you," she said.

While Matt and Kevin had been trying to convince Lucy to sit down, Annie had slipped into the kitchen. She reappeared a few minutes later, carrying the cake.

Lucy jumped up from her chair when she saw the cake. "Ooh, that looks delicious! I've been craving cake all day!"

"You're not going to get any unless you sit down, Luce," Mary joked.

Matt shot her an annoyed look. "Mary, you're not helping matters."

"Oh, come on, Matt. You remember how it was when I was pregnant with the twins and on bed rest. The times that I was allowed out of bed, I wanted to do anything but sit or lay down. Come on, let her stay up." Sarah convinced Matt.

"Yeah, come on, Matt. She'll be fine," Ruthie added.

Matt held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. "Okay, okay," he laughed. "I can't fight all three of my sisters and my wife. You win, Lucy."

She squealed and threw her arms around him. "Thanks, Matt," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek."

"Are we going to eat the cake or not?" asked Sam. Being a typical sixteen year old boy, he was always hungry.

Everyone laughed. "Hold your horses, David. Lucy has to blow out the candles first," Ruthie reminded him.

Lucy laughed. 'I can't blow the candles out until you light them , Ruthie," she reminded her. Ruthie had been holding the lighter in her hand while she was reprimanding David.

"I know, I know. I'm getting ready to light them now," she laughed. A few seconds later, all the candles were lit.

Lucy stepped up to the table that Annie had put the cake on, took a deep breath, and blew. She managed to blow all of the candles out in one breath.

Everyone clapped and cheered. "Let's eat!" Colin piped up from where he was standing by Sarah. Everyone laughed.

"He's right," David said. "Who's going to cut the cake?"

"I'll cut it," Rose offered. A few minutes later, the cake was cut and pieces were being passed around.

Lucy had just taken a bite of her cake when a look of pain flashed across her face. Although it was only there for a few seconds Annie noticed. Not wanting to make a big scene over it, she waited until every one else was busy and not paying attention, then she went over to Lucy. "Lucy, are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Mom. My back's been bugging me all day. It's nothing to be worried about."

Lucy tried to pass it off as nothing, but Annie could tell it was more than a just her back "bugging" her. She went over to Kevin. "Kevin," she whispered quietly, "something's wrong with Lucy. I've been watching her, and I've seen her wince several times. She claims that it's just her back bugging her, but I think it's something more."

Kevin glanced over to where Lucy was standing. The first thing he noticed was that Lucy looked pale. He then saw that she looked very unsteady on her feet.

Kevin had just started towards her when she started to fall. He broke into a run, but Simon, who had been standing next to her, noticed and caught her before Kevin got there.

"Matt!" Simon shouted. Matt was already on his way over there. He and Kevin reached Lucy at the same time.

"Mom, call 911," he said. "Sarah, get my bag out of the car. Simon, why don't you hold her head in you lap, that way she's not lying totally on the concrete. Everyone else, move back."

Annie turned to Sam and David, who were watching the commotion with pale faces. "Sam, David, take the kids inside. They don't need to see this," she commanded. They quickly moved to obey.

Sam picked up Erin and told Charlie to take Ava's hand while he grabbed Erica's hand. HE then made his way inside the house. David had a hold of Keller and Liam's hands and was doing his best to convince Savannah to come inside, but she was refusing. Finally, Peter came over to help. "Savannah, come on, let's go inside and play."

Savannah, at almost six years of age, was old enough to realize that something was wrong with her mom. "No, I want to see Mommy!" she cried.

Peter picked her up and carried her inside the house. "Look, Savannah, Mommy's going to be just fine, okay? Mommy and Daddy need you to help Uncle Sam and Uncle David with Erin, okay? You need to help take care of her so that Daddy can help Mommy."

Savannah had quieted down by now, but tears were still rolling down her cheeks. She nodded. "Okay."

Peter gave her a hug and set her down. "Go on, go play now." He watched to make sure that she went to where Sam and David were keeping the other kids busy, then went back outside.

When he made it outside, eh went over to where Ruthie was standing, her eyes wide with fear. Kevin and Lucy had told everyone a month ago about the risks involved with this pregnancy. "Honey, she's going to be okay," he soothed. "Don't worry." He put his arm around her.

"Peter, she's still not conscious. Last time she did this, with Erin, she regained consciousness after just a minute or so."

The EMTs had arrived while Peter was inside, and as he watched them work on his sister-in-law, he started to become scared. Why wasn't she waking up?

After a several minutes, the EMTs, with Matt's help, placed Lucy on a stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance. Matt turned around and said something to Kevin, then he and Kevin hopped into the back of the ambulance. As soon as the everyone was in, the ambulance took off, it's sirens blaring.

Sarah, who had been assisting Matt and the paramedics, walked over to where everyone was standing. "They're taking her to the hospital. She started to regain consciousness when they were loading her into the ambulance. Matt said that Lucy will definitely be in the hospital at least overnight. He recommended that you all just go home. We'll call if we find out anything."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not going to just go home when my sister was just taken to the hospital!" Simon exploded. Rose laid a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, but he just shrugged it off. "The rest of you can do what you want, but I'm going to the hospital."

"I agree with Simon. Why should we have to just sit around and wait for news at home? I'm going to wait at the hospital," Mary announced.

Everyone else agreed with Simon and Mary, so Annie turned to Chandler and Roxanne. "Would you two mind filling Sam and David in on what's going on?"

"No, not at all," Chandler said quickly. "DO you want us to stay with the kids?"

Annie smiled sadly. "No, thanks for the offer, but I think it'd be best if Sam and David were watching their nieces and nephews right now. It'll give them something to do besides worry and it will also be better for the kids. With Charlie being six, Savannah almost six, both sets of twins almost four, and Erin two, they understand enough of what's going on that if we left them with you, they'd be quite upset."

"Okay. We'll come to the hospital as soon as we can." Chandler replied. He and Roxanne headed inside to do as Annie had requested while everyone else headed to their respective cars.

Simon and Rose were the first to reach the hospital. They got out of their car and ran into the emergency room. Simon went up to the front desk. "Do you know if Lucy Kinkirk has been admitted?" he asked.

The receptionist looked up and said curtly, "I'm sorry, I can only give that information out to immediate family members."

"I am an immediate family member. My name is Simon Camden. I'm her brother."

Without looking at him, the receptionist's cold reply was, "Come back later and ask. I'm busy."

With shoulders slumped, Simon walked over to where Rose had sat down. "They won't give me any information. I guess we'll just have to wait for Matt or Kevin."

Before long, everyone else had arrived as well. When Simon told Annie what the receptionist had told him, she marched up to the desk with a determined, "don't mess with me" look on her face. "Excuse me," she said. "My name is Annie Camden. My daughter, Lucy Kinkirk, was brought here by an ambulance about half an hour ago. She's five and a half months pregnant and passed out. Could you tell me if she's been admitted and how she is?"

The receptionist glanced up at her, ready to tell her what she had told Simon, but when she saw the look on Annie's face, she changed her mind. She entered something into her computer, then said, "She's being looked at right now. I don't know what condition she's in."

Annie turned to go back to her seat when she spotted Kevin walking into the waiting room, obviously looking to see if anyone was there about Lucy. "Kevin! Over here!" she called.

Kevin hurried over to where Annie had rejoined the rest of the group. "They just moved Lucy up to the maternity ward. She regained consciousness on the way here. Matt and the other doctors think that this could be the beginning stages of toxemia, so they're going to keep her overnight while they wait for the results of the tests. After they get the results, they'll know better what they're going to do. Matt said that they'll probably put her on bed rest."

"Can we see her?" Ruthie asked.

"Yes, you can, in a few minutes. They just have to finish up a couple of tests first. You can all come on up to the waiting room in the maternity ward. Matt should be waiting there for us."

Everyone followed Kevin up to the waiting room in the maternity ward, and sure enough, Matt was waiting for them. "Kevin, we're all done running tests now. Lucy's asking for you."

"Okay, Matt. Thanks." Kevin went down the hall to Lucy's room. He opened the door and went in. "Luce? It's me. How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm feeling fine now that they got the contractions stopped. I didn't even realize until the party that I was having them. At least it was just a false alarm."

Kevin attempted to smile. "Yes, at least as far as labor goes. We still have to wait for the test results to come back."

Kevin wrapped his arm around Lucy and she snuggled into his side. "I know, but I feel fine. I don't feel any different than I have been feeling. I'm almost positive that the tests will all come back negative."

Kevin changed the subject. "Are you up for some company? You have a waiting room full of people out there."

Lucy smiled. "Sure. Send them on in."

Kevin went out to tell everyone that they could see Lucy now and caught the tail end of Matt's conversation with them. "I don't think it's toxemia. In fact, I think she's well enough now that she won't even have to be on bed rest in the afternoons anymore. I'm not sure what caused this, but I have a suspicion that it might be sugar-related. Lucy said that she hadn't been able to keep anything down all afternoon."

Kevin was relieved. He had automatically thought the worst when he saw Lucy collapse at the party. He walked over to where everyone was standing. "Lucy's up for some visitors now. I don't think she can handle all of you at once, but I'm sure that a few at a time will be okay."

Soon, everyone but Matt and Sarah had been in to visit Lucy. Matt went in by himself first. He had asked Sarah and Kevin to give him some time alone with his sister.

Matt slowly opened the door to Lucy's room, calling out softly, "Luce, it's Matt. Can I come in?"

"Come on in, Matt," Lucy replied.

Matt fully entered the room and walked over to Lucy's bed. He sat down on the edge. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm feeling okay now that the Braxton-Hick's contractions have stopped. Have you gotten the test results back yet?"

Matt shook his head. "No, not yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I get them. I'm sure that everything's going to turn out fine," he encouraged her.

"Oh, Matt, I'm so scared! What if something really is wrong with the babies? I don't think I could stand losing another baby," Lucy cried.

Matt hugged her to him. "Luce, it's okay. They're fine. We just did an ultrasound, remember? Nothing's wrong with the babies." He pulled back and looked her in the eye. "Lucy, I will do everything I can to make sure that you and the babies are okay. I promise."


	4. Test Results

A/N: Here's the next chapter!! Sorry it took so long! I'm almost done with chapter 5, so it should be up soon. FIanls are coming up soon, so after those are over i'll have a lot more time to write. Please read & review!!

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Matt woke up to the ringing of his cell phone. He looked at his watch. It was 2 am. He grabbed his cell phone and answered, "Dr. Camden speaking," he answered.

"Dr. Camden, the test results for Lucy Kinkirk are here."

"Thank you, I'll be right there."

Matt got up off the cot that he had been sleeping on and stretched. Even though he knew that Lucy and the babies were stable, he had decided to stay at the hospital overnight and sleep on the cot in his office that he used when he was on call. He went out to the front desk where a nurse handed him a folder containing Lucy's test results.

Matt opened up the folder and studied the reports carefully. What he saw concerned him, so he called the obstetrician that was on call tonight, Dr. Fraiser, to look at the reports as well. Dr. Fraiser specialized in high-risk pregnancies.

"What do you think?" Matt asked once Dr. Fraiser had had a chance to look at he reports.

Dr. Fraiser turned to Matt. "I don't like what I see, Matt. I think we need to run some additional tests and try to find out more."

"Do you think I should tell the patient and her husband, or wait until the additional tests come back?"

"They need to be told right away. Tell them that we're going to run additional tests to see if we can't find out more. Don't panic them, just make them aware of the situation and what the treatment would be."

"Nathan," Matt said, addressing Dr. Fraiser, "this patient is my sister."

Dr. Fraiser looked up sharply from the test results he had been studying. "Your sister? Matt, can you handle this case?"

Matt nodded. "I have to. I don't want anyone but me to handle her case. I have to do it."

Dr. Fraiser placed a hand on Matt's shoulder. "Matt, if you need anything, don't hesitate to give me a call. I'm here for you."

Matt managed a small smile. "Thanks, Nathan, I appreciate that. I can handle this for now. Why don't you go back and try to get some sleep before you get woken up for an emergency."

Dr. Fraiser nodded. "Don't hesitate to call," he reminded Matt again, then turned to go back to his office.

Matt sighed. HE had to go let Kevin and Lucy know about the newest developments. He could wait until morning, but he thought it best to let them know as soon as possible.

Matt went down the hall to Lucy's room and knocked on the door, then entered. Kevin had woken up at the sound of the knock and met him at the door. He regarded Matt's rumpled clothes, then said, "You slept in your office, didn't you?"

Matt nodded. "I did. I wanted to see the test results as soon as they cam back, and I wanted to be close by just in case anything happened."

Kevin shook his head. "You know Lucy's going to be mad at you when she finds out."

"I know, but I couldn't help it, I had to stay. How long has Lucy been sleeping?"

Kevin glanced over at the form of his wife lying on the bed. "She fell asleep shortly after everyone left," he replied. He then glanced back over at Matt. "Matt, what's wrong? I can tell that something's wrong."

"The test results are back, Kevin, and they're not good." Matt waited a moment to let that sink in.

"What do you mean, they're not good? What's wrong Matt? Is it something with the babies?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't want to tell you anymore without Lucy. Can you wake her up? This is important."

Kevin walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "Lucy," he said gently, "you need to wake up. Come on, Luce."

Lucy woke up and rubbed her eyes. "What's up?" she asked groggily.

"Matt needs to talk to us," Kevin replied.

Lucy looked over and saw Matt standing at the end of her bed. "Matt, what's wrong?" she asked, concern attached on her face.

"The test results came back, Lucy," he said, taking a seat in the chair beside her bed. "Lucy, they're not good."

"Is it something with the babies? Please, tell me!" she cried. Kevin wrapped his arm around her and Matt grasped her hand.

"Lucy, from the tests results, it appears that one of the babies may have a problem." Matt hated telling his sister such bad news, but he knew that she needed to know.

Lucy and Kevin stared at him in shock. Kevin was the first to speak. "What kind of a problem? Do you mean down syndrome or something like that?"

Matt slowly shook his head. "No, nothing like that. The baby has a congenital heart defect."

Lucy began to cry. "Are you sure that's what it has?"

"There's no way to know for sure until the babies are born. I've been involved in cases like this before, and sometimes the baby turns out to be perfectly normal." Matt replied, attempting to comfort her.

"How much of a chance is there that you're wrong?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know, Kevin, I really don't. We're going to run a few more tests before we an be absolutely sure. Right now, there's an equal chance of the test results being wrong as there is that the test results are right. We'll know more once we run some more tests."

"What about toxemia or anything like that? Why did Lucy collapse like that. At the beginning of her pregnancy, you mentioned toxemia and other complications. Is everything okay with Lucy?" Kevin wanted to know.

"All of the tests results for Lucy have come back negative. The only thing that was abnormal was her blood sugar level, which was low. There' nothing to be concerned about there, considering that Lucy had been getting sick all morning and afternoon. Her body didn't have enough sugar, that's all. As far as we know, Lucy is fine."

"When will you run these other tests?" Lucy wanted to know.

"In the morning, as soon as possible. Look, I need to let you two know, if these test results come back positive, then the baby almost definitely has it. If that's the case, then the baby will need surgery."

"Would Sarah still be able to be the baby's pediatrician or would we need a specialist?" Kevin wanted to know.

"Sarah would still be able to be the pediatrician, if that's what you want. I'm sure she'd be more than willing. You would also need a specialist, though. I know of a few whose names I can give you.

"How can one of the twins have this problem and not the other one?" Lucy wondered.

Matt sighed. He hated it when he didn't have an answer to his patients questions. "I can't explain that, Lucy. I don't know the answer. It's just something that happens sometimes. I'm sorry. He stood up. "Why don't you get some sleep. If you have any more questions, you can ask me in the morning, okay? Right now, I think you need to get some rest. And that's an order," he sternly.

Lucy nodded. "I will," she replied.

Matt turned to leave the room and was about to go out the door when Lucy spoke up again. "Matt?"

Matt turned back around.

"Thank you. I love you."

Matt smiled at her, walked back over to the bed, and gave her a hug. "I love you too, Lucy. I'm sorry I had to give you bad news like this."

When Matt had shut the door to his sister's room, tears started streaming down his face. He hated the fact that there was nothing he could do. He hated hurting his sister by telling her that information, but he knew that he had to tell her. He hurried down the hall to his office where he sat and cried and did research for several hours. He finally shut down his computer,, grabbed his stuff, and drove home.

When Matt got home, eh was surprised to see the living room light on and Sarah asleep on the couch. She had obviously been trying to wait up for him. He walked over and touched his wife lightly on the shoulder.

Sarah sat up and rubber her eyes, then looked at Matt. She knew the minute she saw his face that something was wrong.

"Matt, what's wrong? Is it Lucy?"

Matt shook his head. "Lucy's fine. It's one of the babies. It has a heart defect, Sarah." Matt couldn't hold back his tears. He had managed to compose himself on the way home, but telling the bad news to Sarah was just too much; he couldn't hold the tears back any longer.

Sarah put her arms around her husband. "Oh, Matt, I'm so sorry. You should have called me." Sarah's own tears began to flow.

Matt and Sarah sat and cried together for awhile. Finally, Matt pulled away. "I need to let everyone else know," he said.

"Can't it wait? You need sleep. Matt," Sarah said, concern evident in her voice.

Matt sighed and looked at the clock. It was almost seven o'clock. It had been nearly five fours since he had gotten the call saying that the test results were in. "No, it can't wait, Sarah. I need to tell everyone. Kevin and Lucy are going to need all the support they can get. It's almost seven, everyone's either up or will be getting up soon. I'll call a family meeting; that will be easiest. I'll see if Mom can have it at the house." Matt stood up and walked over to the phone.

Sarah sighed. She knew that nothing was going to stop Matt now. When he made up his mind to do something, nothing could stop him.

The first person Matt called was Annie. "Mom, this is Matt," he said when she answered the phone.

Annie immediately sensed something was wrong. "Matt, what's wrong? Is it Lucy?" she asked.

"No, Mom, Lucy's fine, I promise. I got the test results back, and they showed that one of the babies could have a problem."

Annie gasped. "What kind of problem?" she asked fearfully.

"A heart defect, Mom," Matt replied. "Look, I need to call the others still, but it would be easier to tell them all at once. Can I have everyone meet at your house?"

"Sure. Do you want me to call anyone?" Annie asked.

Matt thought for a moment. "Why don't you call Chandler, Ben, and Simon. I'll call everyone else."

Matt quickly hung up with Annie, then dialed Mary's number. "Carlos, it's Matt," he said when he got an answer.

"Can you and Mary go over to Mom's? I need to tell you all something."

When he got off the phone with Mary, he called Ruthie. "Ruthie, it's Matt. I need you and Peter to go over to Mom's house. There's a problem with one of Lucy's babies. I'll tell you more when everyone gets there."

By the time Matt had finished up on the phone, Sarah had Liam and Keller ready to go. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Matt nodded. "Yes, everyone's on their way. They'll be there shortly."

By the time Matt and Sarah got to Annie's, Ben, Peter and Ruthie, Simon and Rose, and Chandler and Roxanne were already there, waiting impatiently to hear the news.

"Matt, what is it? Is it Lucy?" Ben asked, concerned.

Matt shook his head. "No, Lucy's fine. It has to do with one of the babies. Once everyone gets here, I'll tell you."

Before long, Carlos and Mary arrived with their three kids in tow. Savannah and Erin had spent the night at Annie's house, so she sent them, along with all of the other kids, to Simon's old room, which had been turned into a playroom, to play. This allowed the adults to talk more freely.

Once all the kids were upstairs, twelve pairs of anxious eyes turned to look at Matt and Sarah. The most discerning ones, such as Ruthie, Mary, and Annie, could see that Matt had been crying.

Matt took a deep breath, let it out, then began telling his family the news. "I got the test results back early this morning. They showed that Lucy is doing just fine. As a matter of fact, she's going to be able to come off of bed rest. However, the test results did show a problem with one of the babies. It has a heart defect."

"What kind of a heart defect?" Ruthie asked. "Can it be fixed?"

"We're not exactly sure all what's wrong yet; what we do know is that the baby has a hole in its heart. It's quite possible that there's more wrong than that, but we don't know for sure yet." Matt paused to look at his watch. "In a couple of hours, Lucy has an ultrasound scheduled. Hopefully this will be able to tell us more."

"Can it be fixed?" Mary asked, repeating Ruthie's question.

"The hole in the heart will more than likely be able to be completely fixed when the baby is a few months old. However, if we find any other defects, that will complicate things."

"Will you have to take the babies early?" Annie wanted to know.

Matt shook his head. "No, unless another complication arises, Lucy should be able to carry the baby full term."

"So she'll have a normal pregnancy?" Simon asked.

"Yes, as of right now, she will be able to have a normal pregnancy. The only difference is that she will have to have a cesarean section. The baby's heart to weak to hold up during labor. " Matt glanced at his watch. "Do you have any other questions? I really need to get to the hospital."

Everyone shook their heads, so Matt and Sarah rounded up their two children and left.

After they had gone, everyone sat in silence for awhile, thinking about everything Matt dad told them.

Ben was the first person to break the silence. "Well, I'm glad that it's nothing too serious. I mean, I know it's serious, but it can be fixed by surgery. It's not like the baby has a defect or disease or something."

Annie agreed. "You're right. We should be happy that it's nothing major. Once the baby has the surgery, it will be just like any other child, running around and playing, doing whatever it wants."

"When will we find out the babies' sexes?" Sam wondered. "It doesn't seem right to keep calling a baby "it."

"They'll find out today. Matt's doing another ultrasound, so Kevin and Lucy will know after that what they're having," Ruthie replied. She and Matt had had a short talk while waiting for everyone else to get there.


	5. In the Line of Duty

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since i lst updated, but i just finished a crazy two weeks of finals. I'm done with college for the summer now, so I should have a little mroe time to wrote. As always, please read & review!!

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Lucy was almost eight months along before they were finally able to find out what the babies were. It seemed like every time they went in for an ultrasound, the babies were in the wrong position.

"Okay, are you ready to find out what your babies are?" Matt asked Kevin and Lucy.

Lucy looked up at Kevin, and together they nodded.

"Okay," said Matt, "it looks like Baby A is…a boy! Baby B is…a girl!"

"Yes!" Lucy squealed. She had been hoping that at least one of them would be a boy. She thought that Kevin needed a son.

Although Kevin was excited to be getting a son, he was even more excited about getting another girl. "Savannah and Erin will be excited to get another sister," he said.

"I have a feeling they're not the only ones that really wanted at least one girl," Lucy teased.

Kevin just laughed.

"Do you have any names picked out yet?" Matt asked.

Lucy shook her head. "No, not yet. We have some in mind, but nothing definite."

"We wanted to wait until we found out what they were before we came up with names," Kevin explained.

He was about to say something else when his cell phone rang. He glanced down to see who it was. "Luce, it's Michaels. I've got to take this call. I'll be right back." He hurried out of the room as he answered.

When Kevin was gone, Matt sat down in the chair that Kevin had vacated. "How's everything going at home? Is Kevin spending more time with you and the girls now?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes, he's hardly worked any overtime since Chief Michaels got back, and he still got the promotion to sergeant. Captain Michaels even got on his case when he got back about how much overtime Kevin had worked while he was gone. He told Kevin that he doesn't ever want to see him work that much overtime again, no matter what."

"I'm glad. It seemed like things were going better, but I wanted to make sure," Matt said.

Kevin walked in then. "Luce, I've got to go. They need me down at the station. I know that today's my day off, and Michaels apologized, but we have a lot of people out sick right now. He's calling Roxanne in, too."

Lucy sighed. Today was supposed to have been a special day just for the two of them. Kevin was going to take her out to lunch after her appointment, then they were going to go shopping for baby things. Even so, she understood that Kevin had to go. "Okay, just give me a minute to get changed and get my stuff together and I'll be ready to leave."

Matt cut in then. "Kevin, why don't you let me take Lucy home. There's no sense in you having to wait around when I'd be more than willing to take her home."

Kevin looked at Lucy, who nodded her encouragement at him. "GO ahead, Kevin. It's fine. Let Matt take me home. I'll be fine, alright?"

"Okay." Kevin sighed. This was not how he wanted his day off to go. HE walked over to Lucy and gave her a hug and a quick kiss. "I'm sorry, Luce. I'll be back home as soon as possible. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"You don't have to make it up to me. Just stay safe, that's all that I ask. Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Kevin replied. "I love you. I'll see you later," he called over his shoulder as he hurried out the door.

"Love you, too," Lucy called back. She then turned to Matt. "Give me a second to get changed and I'll be ready to go. I'm sorry to inconvenience you like this."

"Hey, you're not an inconvenience. Don't ever think of yourself as an inconvenience. You're my sister, and I'm here for you whenever you need me. Besides, you're my last appointment for today, so unless I get a call from the hospital saying that they need me, which I shouldn't, I'm free for the rest of the day. What do you say we do something special together?"

"Like what?" Lucy asked.

"Like me take you out to eat, then we go back to your house and we talk for awhile." matt answered.

"Okay," Lucy agreed.

Kevin and Roxanne were out on patrol when a call came in about a robbery in progress. The unit responding needed backup.

"That's only a block away, Kinkirk. Let's go!" Roxanne commanded as she picked up the radio to respond.

Minutes later they arrived on the scene, pulling up behind the squad car that was already there. Roxanne and Kevin jumped out of the squad and hurried over to where two other officers were crouched behind their squad car..

"What do we have here?" Kevin asked.

"About twenty minutes ago, two me walked into the store and demanded all of the money in the register. The cashier complied, but at the same time pressed the silent alarm. When the two men heard our sirens, they freaked out and took everyone inside the store hostage. We've exchanged fire several times, but so far they haven't made any demands." One of the officers replied.

"Have you had any contact with them other than the exchanges of gunfire?" Roxanne asked.

The other officer shook his head no. He was about to speak up and say more when they heard shots coming from the store. All four officers quickly dropped to the ground and grabbed their guns out of their holsters. From behind the safety of the squad, they returned fire.

Finally, after almost thirty minutes, the gunfire coming from the store ceased. Kevin, Roxanne, and the other two officers remained hidden behind the squad for a few minutes to make sure that the shooters weren't just reloading, then slowly, cautiously, they came out.

They had no sooner come out of hiding than Kevin saw the store door open. He was just about to turn to alert the others when a shot was fired.

Roxanne turned toward her partner when she heard the gunshot. She turned just in time to see Kevin grab his chest and collapse to the ground.

"Kevin!" she screamed, falling to the ground beside him while the other two officers grabbed their weapons and returned fire.

Kevin was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound somewhere in the chest area, but Roxanne couldn't tell where. She grabbed her radio and requested a squad and an ambulance at their location, then quickly tore a strip off of her shirt to try to stop the flow of blood.

Kevin's eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth were clenched shut in an effort to stop the pain. However, when he felt Roxanne apply the cloth to his wound, he opened his eyes. "Roxanne, help," he managed to gasp out.

"Shh, it's okay, you're going to be fine, Kinkirk. Help on it's way," she said.

"Hurts," Kevin groaned.

Roxanne knew that it had to be bad if Kevin was complaining of pain. Kevin never complained about pain unless it was really bad. "Help is almost here, Kinkirk. Hang on."

Kevin opened his eyes and gasped out, "Can't."

"Yes, you can," Roxanne practically screamed. "You have to. Lucy and the girls need you, and so do the twins that Lucy's carrying. They're going to need their daddy. You have to hang on.," she pleaded.

"Tell…Lucy…I love her so much," Kevin managed to gasp out. The words were no sooner out of his mouth than he stopped breathing.

"Kinkirk! No, you can't do this!" Roxanne screamed. She immediately began giving him mouth to mouth in an effort to get him to start breathing again.

The gunfire from the store had once again ceased, so one of the other cops scurried over to help Roxanne. He had just taken over the breathing when the squad arrived. He waited until the paramedics were ready to put oxygen on him, then he quickly moved aside and let the medics work.

Roxanne was reluctant to move away from her partner, but she knew that she had to give the paramedics room to work.

By this time, the scene was flooded with officers. The SWAT team had arrived as well, and had gone into the store. When they entered, they found that one of the shooters had killed himself, and the other one put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger as soon as he saw them.

Chief Michaels arrived on the scene amidst the desperate attempts to resuscitate Kevin. It had been almost eight minutes since he had stopped breathing, and despite the best efforts of the paramedics, they could not get him breathing again. Right after the ambulance had arrived, Kevin's heart stopped, and they were unable to get it started again. Michaels hurried over to where the paramedics were carrying on in their attempts to resuscitate Kevin. He had just arrived next to them when he heard them pronounce him dead.

Roxanne had also heard those words. "No! He can't be dead!" she said softly.

Chief Michaels hurried over to Roxanne and attempted to calm her down. "Shh, Roxanne, it's okay. They did their best and I know Kevin fought his hardest. You need to be strong now. Lucy needs to know."

When Chief Michaels said Lucy's name, Roxanne immediately looked at him, then looked down at her uniform. "I can't go see her like this." She had Kevin's blood all over her uniform.

Chief Michaels looked at her uniform and agreed with her. "We'll take you back to the station and let you get changed first. Should we call Chandler?"

Roxanne nodded. "Lucy's going to need him there. Since today was supposed to have been Kevin's day off, more than likely Lucy will be home alone with the kids. I can't let her go through this alone."

Chief Michaels agreed, so he quickly led Roxanne to his squad car and drove her back to the station.

"Do you want to call Chandler or do you want me to?" Michaels asked once Roxanne had gotten changed

Roxanne took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it." She picked up the phone that was sitting on the desk in the office that she and Kevin had shared and dialed Chandler's cell phone number.

"Reverend Hampton," he answered.

"Chandler, it's me," Roxanne said. "Chandler, Kevin…" her voice caught and she couldn't go on.

"Roxanne? What about Kevin?" Chandler asked worriedly. He had heard the emotion in her tone and knew that something was seriously wrong.

"Kevin was shot, Chandler. He was shot in the chest. He didn't make it," Roxanne managed to get out before having to stop again in an effort to remain in control of her emotions.

Chandler was shocked. Kevin? Dead? He couldn't believe it, yet he knew it was true. Roxanne wouldn't play a joke like this on him. "Roxanne, I'll meet you at Lucy's house."

Chandler slowly hung up the phone. He still couldn't believe that Kevin was dead. SO many questions were running through his mind that he wanted answers to, yet he knew that the most important thing right now was for him to be there when Lucy heard.

Lucy and Matt had just gotten inside the house when the doorbell rang. Lucy sighed. She had been hoping to sit down and rest for a few minutes.

When she got to the door, Lucy peeked through the window beside the door to see who it was. When she saw that it was Sergeant Michaels, Roxanne, and Chandler, she froze. "Matt?" she called, her voice shaking.

Matt quickly joined her at the door. He couldn't figure out what was wrong until Lucy pointed out the window. It was then that Matt saw who was standing outside of Lucy's door. "Luce, it's okay. Don't suspect the worst. He could just be injured."

"No, he's dead, I know he is. They wouldn't be here if he were just injured. I would have gotten a phone call from Roxanne instead," Lucy said with tears streaming down her cheeks as she opened the door.

Chief Michaels took a deep breath, then said, "Lucy, Kevin was shot today while responding to a call. He was shot in the chest. There was nothing we could do. I'm sorry, Lucy, but we couldn't save him. Kevin's dead."

Lucy collapsed sobbing into Matt's waiting arms. Even though she had known what Chief Michaels was going to say, nothing could have prepared her for it.

Matt led his sister into the living room. "Lucy, you need to calm down. This isn't good for the babies," he soothed once her had settled her on the couch.

Lucy looked up at him with a tear streaked face. "Kevin's dead," she whispered.

Matt's heart broke at the look on his sister's face. It reminded him of the time when her best friend died in a car accident. She had the same look on her face now that she'd had then, only now it was ten times worse. He looked up at Chandler and mouthed, "Call Mom."

Chandler nodded to show that he understood, then began to head towards the kitchen. However, before he got there, he was stopped by Chief Michaels.

"I'll do it," Michaels said. "Right now Lucy needs you with her."

Chandler agreed and went back to the living room. Roxanne had joined Matt and Lucy on the couch and was attempting to help comfort Lucy.

Back in the kitchen, Chief Michaels took a deep breath, then picked up the phone. He stood there and stared at it for a moment, then set it back down. He couldn't do this, not this way. He had to tell Annie in person. He knew how much Kevin meant to Annie, and he couldn't bear the thought of telling her something like this over the phone. HE went back to the living room and motioned for Roxanne to come with him.

Once Chief Michaels and Roxanne were outside, he explained to her what he was planning on doing and asked her to go with him. "If I show up at Annie's door and it's just me, she's going to remember when Eric died, and she's going to be running through the list of family members that it could possibly be, whereas if I show up and you're with me, she'll know that something happened to Kevin," he explained.

Roxanne agreed, and minutes later, they were in Chief Michael's car on their way to the Camden house. When they arrived, they got out and went up to the door. Roxanne reached out and rang the doorbell. Moments later, they heard footsteps coming towards the door.

Annie opened the door and was shocked to see Roxanne and Chief Michaels standing there. "It's Kevin, isn't it?" she guessed.

Chief Michaels nodded. "I'm sorry, Annie, but Kevin was killed today in the line of duty. He suffered a gunshot wound to his chest. We did everything we could, but we couldn't save him."

Tears were streaming down Annie's cheeks. Both she and Eric had loved Kevin like a son. "Have you told Lucy yet?" she asked.

Roxanne nodded. "Yes, Matt and Chandler are with her."

"Matt?" Annie asked, puzzled. Then, suddenly, it all came back to her. "Kevin was supposed to have today off. He was going to Lucy's doctor appointment with her. What happened?"

"We were shorthanded at the station, a lot of officers are out sick right now. We needed some people to come in, and it was Kevin and Roxanne's turn. They got called to assist at a robbery turned hostage situation, and Kevin was shot." Chief Michaels replied.

"I need to go to Lucy. I need to be with her right now. How am I going to tell Sam and David? What am I going to tell them?"

Roxanne stepped forward and wrapped Annie in a hug. "Mrs. Camden, why don't you let me call someone like Ruthie or Mary? They can take care of telling the boys. Right now, Lucy needs you with her."

Annie nodded. "Okay, let me get my stuff and let the boys know that I'm going to Lucy's. Can you call Ruthie for me?"

Roxanne nodded. "I'll take care of it right away." She went out to the squad and used her cell phone to call Ruthie.

"Hello?" Ruthie answered.

"Ruthie, it's Roxanne."

Ruthie could tell by Roxanne's voice that something was wrong. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Ruthie, I don't know how to tell you this." Roxanne sighed. "Ruthie, Kevin…Kevin was shot today-"

Ruthie cut Roxanne off before she could say anything else. "He's okay, isn't he? Please tell me he's okay! He has to be okay!" she pleaded.

"Ruthie, I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you that he's okay, but he isn't. Ruthie, Kevin died. They did everything that they could to save him, but they just couldn't. He was injured too bad."

"How's Lucy doing? Does Mom know yet?"

"Lucy's taking it hard. Matt's with her right now, and so is Chandler. Annie's on her way over there. I'm on my way back to the station with Chief Michaels. I have to pick up my car, then I'm going back over to Lucy's."

"Who all knows so far?"

"So far, just you, Chandler, Matt, and Annie. I don't know if Matt's even had a chance to tell Sarah yet."

"I'll take care of calling everyone. What about Sam and David? They know, don't they?"

"No, Annie wasn't sure how to tell them. She said that you took care of all that when Reverend Camden died."

"Okay. I guess I'll go over to Mom's house then, and tell the boys. I'll call everyone from there. Roxanne, thank you."

"I'm sorry, Ruthie." Roxanne said, before hanging up.

Once Ruthie had hung up, she tried calling peter, but didn't get an answer, so she left a message on his cell phone asking him ot call her as soon as possible.

She headed out to her car and got in. Before long, she had arrived at the Camden house. She hopped out of the car as soon as it stopped and ran to the house. She tried opening the door, but it was locked, so she pulled her keys out of her purse and used her key to unlock it.

Before she even had a chance to call for Sam and David, they flew at her and wrapped their arms around her, which, now that they were almost teenagers, was a rare thing. Ruthie immediately knew that they had somehow found out. For several minutes, the three of them stood there, in a group hug, feeling safe and comforted in the arms of their siblings.

David was the first to speak up. "Ruthie, we over heard Mom talking to Chief Michaels and Roxanne. Kevin got shot, and he's dead."

Ruthie could hear the tears in David's voice. He always had been the more sensitive of the two. "I know, David. Roxanne called and told me. Mom doesn't think that you know. She doesn't know that you overheard, so I was supposed to come over here and tell you."

Sam spoke up then. "Does anyone else know?"

"Matt knows. He was over at Lucy's when Chief Michaels and Roxanne told her. Other than him, Mom, Peter, and the three of us, no one else knows. I have to call and tell them."

"Ruthie, we turned on the TV. It's on the news. They're not saying a name or showing a picture, but they know that a Glenn Oak police sergeant was shot and killed."

Ruthie sighed. "Well, I guess I should probably start calling people before they overhear it on the news."

Ruthie picked up the phone. The first person that she needed to call was Ben. He needed to know so that he could call his mom and sister and tell them. She dialed Ben's number and waited for answer.

"Hello?" she heard a groggy male voice answer.

"Ben, it's Ruthie."

"Ruthie? What's wrong?" Ben sounded much more awake now.

"Ben, it's Kevin. He…" Ruthie had to stop for a second to regain control of her emotions. "Kevin got shot, Ben. He didn't make it. He died."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for several moments, then Ben spoke up. "When did it happen? How's Lucy?"

"I'm not exactly sure when it happened,; sometime late this morning, I think. I haven't seen Lucy myself, but I've heard that it's pretty rough on her right now. Roxanne said that she was taking it pretty hard."

Ben's voice was filled with emotion. "I'm going to call my mom and Patty Mary, then I'm going over to see Lucy. Thanks for letting me know, Ruthie."

Ruthie heard a click in her ear and knew that Ben had hung up. She took a deep breath. She sure hoped that the other phone calls were easier to make than that one.

The next person she called was Simon. She needed him here right now. Sam and David needed him, too. She quickly dialed his number, then listened to the phone ring. She was about to hang up when Simon answered.

"Hello?"

"Simon? It's Ruthie."

Simon could immediately tell from her voice that something was wrong. "Ruthie, what is it? What's wrong? Is Mom okay? Did something happen to Peter?"

"Mom and Peter are fine, Simon. It's not them, it's Kevin."

"He's the officer that they're talking about on TV, isn't her? The one that was shot and died?"

"Yes, he's the one." Ruthie said, tears choking her voice.

"How's Lucy doing?"

"I haven't seen or talked to her, but Roxanne said that she's not doing well at all. Simon, I'm at Mom's house. I can't get a hold of Peter. I called and left a message on his cell phone, but eh hasn't called me back yet. Come over, please?" she pleaded.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. I need to call Rose and tell her, then I'll be over. Do Sam and David know?"

"Yes, They overheard Mom being told by Roxanne and Sergeant Michaels."

"Okay. It's going to be all right, Ruthie. Lucy's strong; she can get through this. I'll be over there as soon as I can."


	6. Family

A/N: Sorry about the long wait between chapters. SOme stuff came up and I didn't have time to write. This chapter isn't as long as I would have liked it to be, but I would rather post this now than make you wait longer. I'll try to have another chapter up before too long.

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Ding-dong

Chandler got up from where he was sitting in one of Lucy's chairs to answer the door. When he reached the door, he opened it to reveal Ben. It was very obvious that Ben had been crying. "Ben, come on in. Lucy's in the living room." Chandler led the way to the living room.

When Lucy saw Ben, she immediately got up from where she sat on the couch between Annie and Matt and hurried as fast as she could to Ben. When she reached him, she practically threw herself in his arms. "I'm so sorry, Ben. I'm so sorry," she kept repeating over and over.

Ben stood there and held her in his arms for awhile, just letting her cry. Before long, his tears were mixing with hers. His heart ached for his lovely sister-in-law, who had been so much in love with his brother. He couldn't imagine the pain she must be going through. "It's going to be all right, Lucy. I promise. I'll be here for Savannah, Erin, and your twins. I'll help you in any way I can. I'm so sorry. I know how much you loved him. I know for a fact that he absolutely adored you."

Roxanne spoke up then. She had not yet found an opportunity to tell Lucy about Kevin's last words, and now seemed like the perfect time. "Lucy, I was with Kevin when he died. His last words were about you. " He told me, 'Tell Lucy I love her so much.' I'm sorry that he died, Lucy. I didn't even see the guy until it was too late. Kevin fought as hard as he could, Lucy. He just couldn't make it. I know for a fact that eh didn't want to leave you or the kids. I'm so sorry, Lucy."

Fresh tears came to Lucy's eyes as Roxanne leaned over and gave her a hug. She noticed that there were tears in Roxanne's own eyes and wondered how she was dealing with her partner's death. After all, she had seen him die right in front of her eyes while all she could do was watch helplessly.

"Ruthie?" Simon called as he entered the Camden house.

Ruthie ran straight into his arms, sobbing. "I can't get a hold of Peter, and I still have to call Mary. Oh, Simon, it's just like when Dad died. It seems like it's happening all over again. I want Peter so bad."

Simon held her in his arms, trying to calm her down. He knew how close she had been to Kevin, probably closer than any of them, with the exception of Lucy, of course. "It's going to be all right," he soothed. "Peter will call you. Who knows, he may have already heard and could be on his way over here. As for Mary, I'll take care of calling her. You need to go sit down."

Ruthie started to obey Simon's command, but then her phone rang. She dived for her purse, which was sitting on the counter, grabbed her phone, and answered it. "Hello?" she said breathlessly.

"Ruth, it's me. What's wrong honey? Are you okay?"

Ruthie started crying at the sound of Peter's voice. "Peter, Kevin's dead. I need you. I'm at Mom's house." she managed to sob out.

"Ruthie, who's there with you? Let me talk to them."

Ruthie handed the phone to Simon. "Peter? It's Simon."

Peter let out a small sigh of relief. He knew that if Simon was there, Ruthie would be okay until he got there. "Simon, I'm on my way. I'm headed there now. I should be there within fifteen minutes. I need you to try and calm Ruthie down for me. This isn't good for her. She's pregnant, Simon."

"What?" Simon half-yelled, shocked. "She's pregnant?"

"Yes. We were going to tell everyone, but just haven't had a chance yet. Simon, this isn't good for the baby or for her. Please calm her down."

"I will, Peter. Hurry up and get here. She needs you."

"I know, I know," was all that Peter said before he hung up the phone. He glanced down at his speedometer. He was going as fast as he could, but it didn't seem fast enough to him.

It seemed like it was ages to Peter before he arrived at the Camden house, but in reality, he had made it in record time. He threw the car into park and ran to the house. When he got to the front door, he flung it open and called, "Ruthie? Simon? Where are you?"

Ruthie, who had been sitting at the kitchen table, got up and ran sobbing into her husband's arms. "It's okay, Ruth. I'm here, honey." He wrapped his arms around her. "You need to calm down. This isn't good for the baby."

Ruthie looked up at him with a pitiful, tear-streaked face. "He's dead, Peter. Kevin's dead."

"Shh, I know. It will be okay. We'll all make it through this, including Lucy."

While Peter was talking to Ruthie, trying to get her calmed down, Simon went back to the kitchen, picked up the phone, and dialed Mary's number.

"Rivera residence," Carlos answered.

"Carlos, it's Simon. Is Mary there, or are you alone?"

"Mary's here. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Carlos, Kevin was shot today. He died."

Carlos gasped. "Oh, no! How's Lucy doing?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen her yet. Can you tell Mary for me, please? Ruthie, Peter, and I are at Mom's house with Simon and David. Rose is on her way. I know that Mary's going to want to go see Lucy, but convince her to come over here first. She doesn't need to be overwhelmed with a ton of people right now."

"I will, Simon. We'll be there shortly."

Carlos hung up the phone, then turned to Mary, who had a look of puzzlement on her face. "Did something happen to Lucy or the babies?" she wondered.

Carlos shook his head. "No, Mary. Lucy and the babies are fine. It's Kevin. He got shot today. He didn't make it."

Mary's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, no! Poor Lucy. I want to go see her. I need to be there for her."

Carlos shook his head. "Not right now, babe. Simon wants us to go over to Mom's house. He, Peter, Ruthie, Sam, and David are there right now, and Rose is on her way. I don't know about Matt or Sarah, but I assume that they are, too."

"But, Carlos, Lucy needs me!"

"Mary, I'm sure that Mom is there with her, and probably Chandler, too. If my guess is correct, then more than likely Roxanne is there as well. Right now, we need to do as Simon asked."

Mary finally agreed, so she and Carlos got the kids ready and loaded them in the van, then drove to the Camden house. When they got there, Mary was the first one out of the van. She started to unbuckle Charlie, but Carlos stopped her. "Go ahead, Mary. You need to be with your family right now. I'll take care of the kids."

Mary gave him a grateful look, then hurried inside the house. "Simon? Ruthie?" she called.

Simon came down the hallway towards her. "Mary," was all he said before opening his arms. Mary rushed to them and tears began flowing down her cheeks.

"I can't imagine what Lucy must be going through right now," she whispered. "It's got to be so hard on her."

"Mary, Lucy's strong; she'll get through this. IF anyone can get through it, she will."

"But what about when the twins are born? What will she do then? Kevin won't be there to help her. It's going to really be hard on her then."

Ruthie had joined them in the hallway by this time. She spoke up, "Mary, Lucy will get through this. WE just need to be there for her when she needs us."

"I want to go see her." Mary stated.

"I know, Mary, but right now, I think we need to be together here until everyone else arrives. WE don't want to overwhelm her with people right now." Simon insisted.

Mary sighed. She knew Simon was right, but she didn't want to admit it.

Ruthie changed the subject. "Why don't we go into the kitchen and make something for dinner. It's almost six o'clock, and I'm sure Sam, David, and the kids are getting hungry. That is, unless you fed them dinner already," she said, turning to Mary.

Mary shook her head. "Carlos and I were just about to make dinner when you called."

Mary and Ruthie had just began supper preparations when the kitchen door flew open and Rose ran in. "I came as fast as I could," she said when she saw Mary and Ruthie. "Where's Simon?"

Mary was about to answer when Simon came into the kitchen. He had heard Rose's voice. "I'm right here, Rose."

Rose went over to him and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry, Simon. Who's all here?"

"So far, it's just Mary, Carlos, Peter, Ruthie, and the two if us. Sarah called a little while ago; she's on her way. Oh, and Sam and David are here, too, of course."


	7. Getting Used to It

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Sorry about how short it is, but this chapter kind of ended itself as I wrote it. I promise that I will do my best to make the next chapter longer. I'll try to get it up as soon as possible. In the meantime, please read & review!!

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Chandler and Roxanne drove home in complete silence. Both of them were thinking about the events of the day. What had started out as a peaceful, relaxing day off had turned into a nightmare. Neither of them wanted to believe that what had happened today was a reality rather than just a bad dream that they would awaken from.

When they reached the Camden house, Roxanne headed towards the house, rather than going to the garage apartment.

"Roxanne, what are you doing?" Chandler asked.

"I just want to check on everyone, see how they're holding up, and make sure they're doing okay," Roxanne replied.

Chandler caught her by the arm. "Look, Roxanne, I know what you're trying to do. You can't fool me, You're trying to help everyone else so that you can ignore your own pain. Roxanne, this isn't healthy for you. You have a right to grieve. You have a right to cry. You saw your partner, one of your closest friends, shot. You were right there, but you couldn't do anything. Please, don't just pretend that everything is okay. I want to help you." he pleaded.

Roxanne pulled away from him. "I'm fine, Chandler, don't worry about me. You go on up; I'll be up once I make sure that no one needs anything." She continued on her way to the house.

Chandler sighed, torn between going after her and doing what Roxanne had said. Finally, he decided that he should follow her to the house. After all, he should be checking on the family as well.

When Chandler stepped inside the house, he was greeted by a very somber looking crowd. Ruthie's eyes were puffy and red from crying; Sam and David had tear streaks on their faces; Carlos sat on the couch with his arm around Mary, who was sleeping on his shoulder. Sarah had Sam and David sitting on either side of her, her arms around them. Peter was perched on the arm of the chair that Ruthie was sitting in, rubbing her back and holding her hand. Rose and Simon were nowhere to be seen; Chandler assumed they were upstairs with the kids, since their vehicle was in the driveway still. Roxanne was over by Sarah and was talking softly to Sam and David.

Chandler stood in the doorway for a few minutes, unsure of who to go to first. He finally decided to go talk to Peter and Ruthie and see if there was anything he could do to help them.

Peter glanced up as Chandler stopped beside the chair Ruthie was sitting in. "Chandler, how's Lucy?" he asked quietly, trying not to disturb Ruthie, who was half-asleep.

Chandler sighed. "She's hanging in their. She's doing a lot better now that your mom and Ben are there."

"Are they spending the night?" Peter asked.

Chandler nodded his head. "Lucy tried to convince them to go home, but neither of them would hear of it. They both insisted on staying there for at least tonight. Roxanne and I offered to take the girls and keep them tonight, but Lucy wouldn't hear of it. She said that she needed them close by right now."

"I can see why. Losing her dad and her husband in the matter of just a few years is going to be hard on her." Peter glanced down at Ruthie and saw that she was finally asleep. "I'm going to take her on up to bed now." He glanced over at Roxanne. "You might want to take Roxanne home; she looks exhausted."

Chandler followed Peter's gaze. Roxanne had moved to sit by David, who had ended up falling asleep in her lap. Sam had done the same thing on Sarah. Peter was right; Roxanne did look exhausted. In fact, she looked like she might fall asleep as well in a few more minutes. "I will. If you need anything, just call," he said, before moving over to where Roxanne sat. "Roxanne, let me take David and put him to bed. I'll take David, too, Sarah."

Both women gently shook the twins and woke them up enough that Chandler managed to lead them both up the stairs and get them into their beds before they fell asleep again. After making sure that they were all settled, he went back downstairs.

"Is Matt coming home tonight?" Sarah was asking Roxanne.

Roxanne nodded her head. "He said he'd be here as soon as he made sure everyone was settled in for the night. He's worried about Lucy."

Sarah looked relieved at the news that she wouldn't have to spend the night without her husband. She had spent most of the day trying to comfort Sam and David and take their minds off of what had happened as well as trying to hold everyone together. Right now she wanted nothing more than for Matt to be there with her, telling her that everything would be alright, like she ahd been telling everyone else.

"Do you want us to stay here with you until Matt gets here?" Roxanne asked.

Sarah shook her head. "No, there's plenty of people in the house. I'll be fine," she said. "You two go on to home. You both look exhausted."

Roxanne got up and Chandler slipped his arm around her, supporting her as they walked out of the house and towards their apartment. "I didn't realize how tired I was until just now," Roxanne said. She gladly let Chandler support the majority of her weight; she felt as if she took another step she would collapse.

"Roxanne, you've been through a lot today. You have every right to be tired," Chandler assured her. When they reached the stairs leading up to the apartment, Chandler scooped Roxanne up in his arms, carried her up the stairs, and laid her on their bed. "Lay here and rest. I'm going to fix us something to eat. We haven't eaten since this morning."

Chandler was in the process of fixing sandwiches for Roxanne and himself when eh hear Roxanne start sobbing. He sighed in relief. Finally, all the emotion that she'd carried around inside of her all day was coming out. He finished making the sandwiches, then carried them to the bedroom. He set them down on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed beside Roxanne. He gently stroked her hair until she had calmed down.

"Do you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Oh, Chandler, it was awful! We were called to a hostage situation. We exchanged gunfire with the gunmen for a long time, then the shooting finally stopped. We thought it was finally over, so we all got up. Next thing I know, I hear a gunshot and turn around in time to see Kevin clutch his chest and collapse ot the ground. There was so much blood, Chandler, so much blood. I got ot him as fast as I could, but he'd lost so much blood. The first thing eh sai d when he saw me was, 'Roxanne, help.' I let him down, Chandler , I let him down! I couldn't help him! All I could do was sit there and watch him bleed to death while we waited for help to arrive. I felt so helpless! I couldn't do anything!" Roxanne began sobbing again.

Chandler pulled her into his arms and held her, rocking back and forth. "Roxanne, you did what you could, and Kevin knows that. He knew there was nothing you could do. You did what you could, and that was to be there for him when he needed you the most. That's what matters, Roxanne. You were there for him."

"I let him die, Chandler! I just sat there and let him die! I didn't do anything for him! I just sat there! I couldn't do anything!"

Matt sighed with relief as he pulled into the driveway of his parent's house. No, his mom's hosue, he corrected himself. Even though it had been almost three years since his dad had died, he still had trouble sometimes remembering that he was gone. Matt shut off the car and took the key out of the ignition. He frowned when he saw that there were still lights on downstairs. He had hoped that everyone would be in bed by this time so that he wouldn't have to see anyone and he could just go straight up and climb in bed next to his wife.

Matt walked up to the house and opened the door quietly so as not to disturb who ever was still up. He shut the door, then walked into the living room to see who it was that was still up. At first he didn't see anyone, but as be started to walk out, he saw Sarah slumped over in a chair, fast asleep. He smiled to himself. She had obviously fallen asleep waiting up for him. He walked over to the chair, sat on the arm, and leaned down to give his sleeping wife a kiss.

Sarah's eyes fluttered open. "Matt, what time is it? I must have fallen asleep," she said.

"It's about two o'clock in the morning," Matt replied. "What are you doing up so late?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

"I was waiting for you," she replied.

"Well, I'm home now. Come on, let's go to bed," he said. Sarah got up out of the chair and Matt put his arm around her, leading her towards the stairs. He sighed. "It's been a long day."

Sarah looked up at her husband, concern written on her face. "Matt, are you okay?" she asked.

Matt gave her a half smile. "I'll be fine, Sarah. I'm just tired. It's so hard to see Lucy hurting so much. It was so much easier when she was little. I could protect her from anything that hurt her then, and even if I couldn't then I could at least make her feel better. I can't do that anymore, and it's so hard. Isn't that the big brother's job, to protect his younger siblings?" Matt sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I can't do that now that she's all grown up."

Sarah stopped walking, forcing Matt to stop with her. She turned so that she was facing hi, then said, "Matt, you can't protect all of them forever, as much as I know you'd like to. They're all grown up now, even Ruthie. All you can do now is be there for the when they need you, like you were for Lucy today."

Matt's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Sarah, it's so hard. Before, Dad was here, and he always knew exactly what to say and do to help. I wish he were here now. Lucy needs him so much."

Sarah led Matt to the room they would stay in for the night, which was Matt's old room. "Matt, you aren't your father. You can never take his place, nor do you need to take his place. Lucy and the others don't need you to try to step up and do everything dad did, especially not now. What they need most is for you to be yourself. They need you to be their older brother, that same older brother who was always there for them when they needed him. Matt, they need you, not someone that's trying to take their dad's place."

Matt sighed and sat down heavily on the side of the bed. "You're right; it's just so hard. It's been nearly three years, but I'm still not used to him being gone. Tonight when I pulled into the driveway, I was thinking of this house as my parent's house. I had to correct myself. It's mom's house now. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that." He yawned. "Come on," he said, pulling the covers down, "let's go to bed."

Sarah walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed in. Her heart ached fro her husband. She knew how close he and Lucy had always been, and how much he was still struggling with his dad's death. She knew that these next few days, weeks, and moths would be a struggle for Matt as he tried to figure out how to deal with everything.


	8. The First Night

A/N: SO sorry about the long wait inbetween chapters. This is kind of a filler chapter; I had writer's block, which explains the delay. I think I'm pretty much over the writer's block now, so I'll do my best to quickly write the next chapter and get it posted. I"m not sure if the next chapter will be the funeral, or the chapter after that. Please read and review!!!

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Lucy lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get to sleep. She kept looking over to the other side of the bed, expecting to see Kevin there. Even though she knew he wouldn't be there, and that he would never be there again, she still couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't imagine life without Kevin.

Try as she might, Lucy couldn't keep from crying. Tears streamed down her face, and, although she tried to hold it back, an occasional sob escaped. She hoped no one heard them.

In the next room, Ben lay in the bed, listening to Lucy cry. As much as he was hurting, he knew that Lucy was hurting more. He couldn't imagine the pain she was going through. She was left with two young kids and two more on the way. The youngest two would never know their father, and it was doubtful that Erin would remember him, as young as she was. Even Savannah would have a hard time remembering Kevin as she got older. He promised himself that he would do everything he could to make sure that his nieces and nephew would know about their daddy. He would do the best he could to keep Kevin's memory alive in his children.

After listening to Lucy for a few more minutes, Ben got up and quietly made his way to Lucy's room. He knocked on the door. "Lucy, it's Ben. Can I come in?" he called softly.

"Come in." he heard Lucy reply.

He opened the door and entered the room. "Are you okay, Lucy?" he asked, grabbing a box of tissues off of the dresser and handing it to her.

Lucy gladly accepted it. "I will be. It's going to take a little while, but I'll be okay." She let out a harsh laugh. "I have to be. I have four children who need me."

Ben's heart went out to his sister-in-law. "Lucy, I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could say or do to make it easier for you. I made Kevin a promise when he first went back to the police force. I promised him that if anything ever happened to you, I would take car of you and the children. I intend to keep that promise, Lucy. Anything you need, just let me know."

Lucy managed a small smile through her tears. "Thank you, Ben," she whispered. She grabbed yet another tissue from the box and dabbed at her eyes. "I loved him so much," she said. "If it weren't for the kids, I don't think I could go on without him."

"I know you did, Lucy. Anyone could tell how much you loved Kevin. He loved you, too. He told me that right after your first date. There was no one is this world that my brother loved as much as you."

"Oh, Ben, it just doesn't seem possible that he's gone. I keep thinking that he's going to walk in the door any minute now and apologize for being late."

Ben motioned towards Lucy and Kevin's bed. "May I?"

Lucy nodded and Ben sat down on the edge of the bed. "Lucy, you haven't really had that much time to let Kevin's death sink in. From the moment I got here you were doing something, whether it be fixing something to eat, taking care of the girls, or entertaining your guests. You haven't had any time alone to really think about it. Tomorrow I'll leave and I'll do my best to convince your mom to leave as well. There is one condition, though."

"What?"

"You let your mom take the girls, and you call me if you need anything."

"But-" Lucy started to protest, but Ben stopped her.

"No, Lucy. It's either that or your mom and I stick around for a little bit longer."

Lucy sighed. She really did want some time just to think without anyone else there, but she really did not want to be apart from Savannah and Erin.

"Lucy, this is the best thing for the girls right now, too. They need a little bit of normalcy. Besides, what are they going to think if they see you crying like you did today? Roxanne was here to keep them occupied today, but if you're all by yourself with them, they're going to see you cry. Even though you told the, there's no way they can understand that Kevin's never coming back again, especially Erin. They're too young."

Lucy knew that Ben was right, but she didn't want to admit it. After a few minutes of not saying anything, she spoke up. "Okay, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

"This is a one day thing unless I say otherwise. There will be no trying to talk me into another day without them, okay?"

"Okay. I'll talk to your mom in the morning and let her know. Lucy, you have to promise me that if you need anything, whether it be just to talk or you think you're going into labor, you'll call me."

"I promise."

"Alright. Try and get some sleep. You need your rest." Ben started to leave the room, then stopped. Mom and Patty Mary are coming in tomorrow. I'll keep them away from here if at all possible. Maybe I can keep them busy helping with the funeral arrangements."

Kevin had planned his funeral when he rejoined the police force and there really weren't that many arrangement that still needed to be made, so Lucy had agreed to let Ben and her mom handle them. "Okay, Ben. Goodnight," she said.

Ben walked out of Lucy's room and back to the guest room he was sleeping in. He really didn't like the idea of Lucy being alone in case something happened to her or the babies, and he knew that Matt would absolutely hate him for the idea.

Hate was no strong enough of a word to describe Matt's anger. "You did what?" Matt exclaimed. Matt had arrived at Lucy's house a few minutes ago and Ben had just informed him of his plan. "How could you do something like that without asking me first? What if something happens to Lucy or one of the babies and no one's there?" he shouted.

"Matt, calm down, please. I made Lucy promise that if she felt anything slightly different to call." Ben conveniently left out the fact that he had told her to call him, not Matt. He didn't think Matt would like that too much."

"You know how stubborn Lucy can be! DO you really expect her to keep that promise?" Matt hadn't calmed down any.

"She will. I told her that if she doesn't call and I find out, I'll have someone stay with her twenty-four hours a day." Ben replied in an even voice, hoping that would calm Matt down.

Matt sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Ben, I'm sorry for getting so upset. I'm just worried about her."

"I know Matt. I am, too. But she needs this time to let Kevin's death sink in. You saw her yesterday. She kept herself so busy that she didn't have time to think about it. She doesn't want to think about it, but if she doesn't it's just going to be harder for her. You know even better than I do that it's not healthy for her."

"I know." Matt looked troubled. "I just don't like the idea of her being alone this late in her pregnancy, especially considering her history of going into labor early."

"Look, Matt, she'll call if anything happens She promised. You have to trust her. Matt, she's not a little girl anymore. You have to let her stand on her own two feet. You can't protect her from everything. She's an adult now, a mother. Be there for her when she needs you, but don't smother her. You have to trust her."

Matt looked at Ben suspiciously. "Why do you care so much? Why are you doing all of this for Lucy?"

Ben held up his hands in defense. "Look, Matt, it's not what you think. She was married to my brother, for goodness sake! I'm not interested in her. I made a promise to Kevin when he went back to the department. His biggest worry was how Lucy would handle it if something happened to him. He asked me to promise him that I would take care of her and the kids if anything happened to him. I made that promise, and I intend to it."

"But she has all of us. Why would Kevin ask you to do something like that?" Matt was confused.

"Because he knew that all of you would smother her. You'd try to protect her from the pain and hurt so much that it would end up hurting her. He didn't want that to happen."

"We're not trying to smother her; we're only trying to help her. I guess sometimes we tend to be a little overprotective. It's just so hard to remember that she can take care of herself. Yesterday, when she looked so hurt, I thought back to the time when Lucy was around fourteen or so, and her best friend died in a car accident. I kept thinking of her as the little girl that she was then, rather than the woman that she is now. I wish that I could take away her pain now as easily as I could then."

Lucy, who had come into the room several minutes ago, decided that it was time to make her presence known. "Matt, Ben, please, stop fighting," she said.

Matt and Ben both jumped. They hadn't heard her come into the room because they had been too busy yelling at each other.

Lucy walked over to where they stood. "Look, I'll be fine by myself. I promise, if I feel even the slightest little twinge, I'll call. Just please, stop arguing. This isn't what I need right now. I just want things to get back to normal, not get worse. I just lost my husband, I don't need my brother and my brother-in-law fighting. I also don't need smothered. I'm pregnant, I'm not helpless. Right now, I'm just concentrating on making it through the funeral; I can't do it without your help." Lucy was close to tears.

Matt pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Luce. You and Ben are right, we need to start supporting you rather than smothering you. WE didn't mean to upset you. We're just worried."

"I know." Lucy brushed her tears away. "I'm sorry; it seems like all I ever do anymore is cry."

"You're pregnant. That's normal. You just lost your husband and you're left with two kids with two more on the way. I'd say you've got a pretty good excuse to cry." Matt said.

After a few minutes Lucy pulled away form Matt and wiped her eyes. "Well, I'd better get breakfast started," she said, walking towards the kitchen. She was almost to the kitchen when the front door opened and Annie walked in.

"No need to fix anything for breakfast. I picked us all up something to eat," Annie said. She saw that Lucy had been crying and looked made eye contact with Matt to let him know that she wanted to be alone with Lucy.

"Come on, Ben, let's go get some food and then we'd better get out of here. Your mom and Patty Mary will be getting in at the airport before long, and I'm sure you'll want to change and freshen up some before you meet them," Matt told Ben.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll be right there," Ben replied. He turned to Lucy. "I'm just a phone call away if you need me. My cell phone's always on. You have my number right?" Lucy nodded her head. "Okay then, I'd better get in there before your brother eats all the food," he joked, then he turned serious. "I'll keep Mom and Patty Mary away today, but they're going to want to come over sometime tomorrow. I'll try to call and let you know before we come over."

Lucy nodded, relieved that he had said "we" rather than "they." She loved her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law, but she wasn't sure she could handle them both by herself. They could tend to be a bit overwhelming at times.

After Ben went into the kitchen, Annie went into the living room, where Lucy was, and sat on the couch. She patted the spot next to her. Lucy practically ran to the couch and buried her face in Annie's shoulder.

"Oh, Mom, I don't know how I can go on without him. It hurts so much, and I miss him already. I can't imagine living the rest of my life without him!" she sobbed. "I can't be a single mom! Kevin was always here to help me. Oh, Mom, I miss him so much already, and it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet! How am I going to make it without him?"

Annie held her daughter as she cried. Her heart ached for Lucy. She knew exactly what Lucy was feeling right now. The only difference was Annie had had time to prepare herself for Eric's death and she had gotten a chance to say goodbye. Lucy hadn't been able to say goodbye to Kevin. She hadn't known that when she told Kevin goodbye before he left for the station that it would be the last time she would ever see him alive.

"Lucy, I know how you feel. When your dad died, I didn't know how I could ever go on without him. I missed him so much those first few days, weeks, even months. I still miss him, even though it's been three years since he died. I'll never stop missing him, just like you'll never stop missing Kevin. But the pain lessens as time passes. The hole that's left by his death will get smaller and seem less obvious."

Annie held her daughter for awhile longer, then suggested, "Why don't you go lie down for a little while. I'm pretty sure that Kevin and Matt are gone."

Lucy nodded and started to go to her room, then stopped. "I haven't heard a thing from Savannah or Erin this morning," she said. "Have you checked on them at all?"

"I took them with me when I left to get breakfast. They're with Sam and David a the house right now."

"Oh, okay," Lucy replied, relieved. She guilty that she hadn't thought of them before. She continued on to her bedroom.

Annie waited to make sure that Lucy did indeed go to bed. When she heard the bedroom door shut, she straightened up the house, grabbed her purse off the counter, and then left, locking the door behind her. She headed for her car. When she reached it, she was surprised to see Matt still there, leaning against his own car, waiting for her.

"How's she doing?" he asked.

Annie sighed. "Right now, she's struggling. She needs this time alone to be able to think through everything. She's so scared right now, Matt. I just wish that there were some way I could help her."

Matt pulled Annie into a hug. "You're doing as much as you can, Mom. We can't smother her, She's not a kid anymore. She needs to live her own life. We can't live it for her.


	9. Getting Ready

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it! The next chapter, maybe even thh next two chapters, will be the funeral. As always, please read & review!! Please feel free to give me constructive criticism. I'm always looking for a way to improve my stories.

Disclaimer: If I owned 7th heaven, the show would still be on, so, obviously, I don't own the show or any of the characters from it.

* * *

The day of Kevin's funeral was cold and cloudy. It looked like it could rain at any moment. Lucy sighed as she looked out the window. The weather matched her mood, dark and dreary. She was not looking forward to having to face the crowd that she knew would attend Kevin's funeral. She had been warned by Chief Michaels that most funerals for officers killed in the line of duty had a very large number of people in attendance.

As Lucy stared out the window, she saw the first of what she knew would be many reporters pull up outside the house. She sighed. There had been reporters camped outside her house since Kevin's name was first released to the press. That, along with a never-ending stream of phone calls which had eventually driven her to turn off her phone, was an intrusion that she despised. All she wanted was to be left alone to mourn in private, but instead she had the media camped outside on her doorstep. The Glenn Oak Police Department was doing their best to keep the media at bay, but occasionally a few vans from various TV stations would slip by unnoticed due to the limited resources of the department.

Lucy knew that all she had to do to get the reporter currently parked in front of her house to go away was make a quick call to the police department, but as long as they stayed away from the house and didn't try to talk to her, Lucy didn't care where they were parked. She knew that the department was doing it's best to handle the additional load placed on it since Kevin's death.

"Mommy," called Savannah from her bedroom, interrupting Lucy's thoughts.

"I'm coming," Lucy called back as she headed towards Savannah's room. She was glad that she had insisted on keeping the girls with her last night when her mom had tried to convince her that it would be better for them to stay with her. She knew that her mom was just concerned for her and the girls, but she knew that it was time the girls got back some sense of normalcy. It had been five days since Kevin died, and aside from that first night after his death and then again last night, the girls had been staying at her mom's house. She knew that both Savannah and Erin were frightened by this whole ordeal. Although they were too young to understand everything, they knew that something was terribly wrong. They needed to be with their mom during this time, not their grandma or an aunt or uncle.

Lucy entered Savannah's room and smiled at what she saw. Erin had at some point in the night gotten out of her own bed and gone to Savannah's room to climb in bed with her. From what her mom had told her, this had been a regular occurrence since Kevin's death.

Savannah looked up at Lucy. "Mommy, Erin wanted to sleep with me again," she said softly, so as not to wake Erin, who was still sleeping.

"I know, sweetie. She just wants to be near you right now," Lucy informed her daughter while carefully moving Erin over so Savannah could get up. "Come on, let's go fix you some breakfast, then we'll wake Erin up and we'll get ready to go to the church for Daddy's funeral."

"Okay, Mommy," Savannah replied, slipping her hand into Lucy's as they walked towards the kitchen. "Are Uncle Ben, and Grandma Karen still here?"

"Yes," Lucy replied. "They're still sleeping, though. Be quiet, we don't want to wake them up."

Ben and Karen Kinkirk, Kevin and Ben's mom, had been sleeping at Lucy's house since the first night she had stayed alone after Kevin's death. She thought back to that night.

_*Flashback*_

_Lucy sat on the couch, sobbing uncontrollably. She missed Kevin so much. She didn't know how she could go on without him, but she knew she had to. She calmed herself down and headed towards the kitchen to get a glass of water._

_Lucy was almost to the kitchen when she hear the sound of glass breaking. She ran as fast as she could towards the telephone and picked it up. No dial tone. She had unplugged it earlier because of all the phone calls she had been getting. She hurried over to her purse, which was still sitting in the counter where she had set it after Matt brought home from her doctor's appointment the day of Kevin's death. She reached inside of it and pulled out her phone. Quickly, she flipped it open and dialed Ben's cell phone number._

"_Lucy? What's wrong?" Ben answered, his voice full of concern._

"_I just heard some glass break," she whispered. "I think maybe someone's trying to break in."_

"_I'll be right there, Lucy. Hang on. Stay on the phone with me. I'm going to have mom call the police. Don't hang up, okay, Lucy?"_

"_Okay," she whispered, her voice trembling with fear. "Just hurry. I'm scared."_

"_I know, Luce. The police are on their way and so am I. Where are you?"_

"_In the kitchen."_

"_Okay. I want you to get out of the house,, okay? I'm almost there, just hang on, Lucy."_

_Lucy hear footsteps coming down the hall towards the kitchen. "Ben, I hear footsteps. They're coming towards the kitchen," she whispered anxiously._

"_Get out of there, Luce! Get out of there now!" Ben shouted into the phone as he screeched to a halt in front of the house._

_He threw open his door and ran towards the house. He heard sirens coming down the street, but they weren't coming fast enough as far as he was concerned. He was almost to the house when he saw Lucy run out of the house and towards her neighbor's house, tears streaming down her cheeks. The moment she saw him, she changed directions and ran straight into his rams, sobbing._

_Ben wrapped his arms around her and held her. "Shh, you're okay, Luce, you're okay. I've got you."_

_A police car screeched to a halt in front of the house, two more directly behind it. The four officers from the first two police cars had their guns drawn and were running towards the house; the other two headed towards Lucy and Ben. _

"_Ma'am, are you alright?" one of the officers asked. _

_Lucy nodded. "There was someone in my house," she whispered, tears continuing to stream down her face._

"_It's alright, ma'am, there are officers in your house now looking for the him. If he's in there, we'll find him, don't worry." he comforted._

"_Do you want us to call a squad to check you over, just in case?" his partner asked. _

_Before Lucy had the chance to say anything, Ben said, "That won't be necessary. I've already called her brother, who is also her doctor, and he's on his way over now to check her over."_

_Lucy looked up at Ben and frowned. "Why did you do that?" she asked. "I'm fine."_

"_It's just a precaution, Luce. You're eight months pregnant and you've just been through your second traumatic experience in as many days. I just want to make sure you and the babies are okay."_

_The officers who had been sent in to search Lucy's house came out before Lucy had a chance to reply. They had a man in handcuffs and were leading him to one of the squad cars. _

_One of the officers that had searched the house came over to talk to Lucy. "We caught that man in your house, rifling through your things. He claims to be a reporter trying to get more information on your family and Sergeant Kinkirk. We're going to take him down to the station and do a little digging to see if he's telling the truth. Chief Michaels is on his way over here to talk to you about security." The officer turned and walked towards his squad car before Lucy had the chance to say anything._

"_I don't want security stationed at my house," Lucy told Ben. "I want to retain at least some of my privacy."_

"_There's no way you're refusing security, Lucy, not after this. I'm not going to let you.."_

_Lucy sighed and was about to argue with him when she saw Matt pull up behind all the police cars. He came running towards her._

"_Luce, are you alright?" he asked._

_Lucy nodded. "I'm fine; just a little shook up right now, that's all."_

_Matt frowned as he looked her over. "Ben, can I talk to you for a minute in back?" he asked._

_Ben nodded. He and Matt turned and started walking towards the back yard, but were stopped short by Lucy's call of "No, don't leave me!"_

_They both turned around and immediately ran back towards her, hearing the terror in her voice._

_Matt reached her first. He pulled her tense body into his arms. "Shh, it's okay, Luce. We're not going anywhere. Don't worry; we're still here." _

_Lucy buried her face in his chest, just as she had done when she had been upset about something as a girl. "I'm scared, Matt. Don't leave me," she whispered._

"_I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here as long as you want me to," he replied._

_Ben, in an effort to give the brother and sister some time alone, headed towards the road and watched down the street for Chief Michaels. After a few minutes, he spotted the chief's car turning onto the street. _

_Chief Michaels got out of the car and walked over to Ben. "Ben, how's she doing?' he asked quietly._

"_She's pretty shook up right now, Chief. This really scared her, but she claims she doesn't want any security at the house because she doesn't want to lose any more of her privacy."_

"_I understand, but I don't want what happened to day to happen again. She doesn't need this right now. I'll do my best to respect her need for privacy, but I'll do what I need to in order to keep her safe. I won't let anything happen to her. I can't." Chief Michaels said firmly. "If something happened to her, I'd feel like I let down both Kevin and Reverend Camden. I'll talk to Lucy and explain what I have in mind."_

_*End Flashback*_

Sergeant Michaels had posted several officers at the end of her street, order a regular patrol around the neighborhood, and had also orders regular patrols in the Camden's neighborhood.

Matt had checked her over, and both she and the babies were fine. He had wanted to stay overnight with her, but she refused, telling him to go home to Sarah and his boys. Matt only agreed when Ben stepped in and said that he and his mom would stay with Lucy. When Lucy tried to argue, both Matt and Ben told her that if she didn't agree, they would go to Chief Michaels and have him post some officers in front of the house, like he had originally wanted to do. She had quickly agreed to let Ben and Karen stay at her house.

Savannah was almost finished with breakfast when Ben came in. "Uncle Ben!" she exclaimed.

Hey, munchkin," Ben replied, leaning down to give her a kiss. He then walked over to where Lucy stood at the counter, preparing breakfast for Erin, Ben, Karen, and herself. "Anything I can do to help?" he asked.

Lucy glanced at the clock. "You could go get Erin up. If she doesn't get up now, I'll never have her ready in time for the funeral."

Ben nodded and started to leave the room, but Lucy called after him, "Wait!" He turned back towards her. "She's in Savannah's bed," she stated.

Ben nodded and continued on down the hall. When eh reached Savannah's room, he stopped in the doorway and stood there for a couple of minutes, watching his niece sleep. Finally, he tiptoed over to the bed and called softly, "Erin, time to get up, sleepyhead."

Erin stirred, but didn't open her eyes. Ben smiled. Erin had always been hard to wake up. "Erin, come on baby, it's time to get up. Mommy's making breakfast for you."

Erin opened her eyes. "Daddy?" she asked groggily.

Ben's heart broke for his adorable little niece who would never see her daddy again. "No, baby, it's Uncle Ben. Daddy's in heaven, remember?" he said, his voice cracking.

Erin's eyes filled with tears. "I want daddy," she whimpered.

Ben sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Erin into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her. "I know you do, baby. But daddy will always be with you." He placed his hand on Erin's heart. "Daddy lives in here. You can't see him, but he's there, and he'll always be watching over you."

Lucy quietly stepped away from the doorway where she had been standing, watching the whole thing. She quickly brushed away her tears and returned to the kitchen. Savannah had just finished eating and was putting her dishes in the sink. "Thank you, Annah," Lucy said, using the nickname Erin had given Savannah when she had first started talking. "I'm going to get Erin some breakfast, then I'll be in to help you get dressed and do your hair."

"Okay, Mommy," Savannah replied. She skipped down the hall to her room, almost running into Ben, who had just come out of her room carrying Erin.

Ben reached out a hand to steady her. "Careful, munchkin, you almost ran me over!" eh said jokingly.

Savannah giggled. "I can't run you over, Uncle Ben; you're bigger than me!"

Ben got a thoughtful look on his face, then said slowly, as if he was just realizing it, "Well, I guess I am bigger than you! Imagine that! And here I thought you were the bigger one."

"You're silly, Uncle Ben," Savannah laughed. "You'd better take Erin to the kitchen before mommy gets mad. She's waiting for her to come eat breakfast so she can get me dressed and do my hair."

Ben laughed. 'Well, I guess I'd better get a move on, then. I don't want your mommy to be mad at me. She gets pretty scary when she's mad." he said with a very serious look on his face.

Once Savannah had skipped on into her room, Ben continued down the hall and entered the kitchen, where Lucy was waiting. "I was informed that by a certain little munchkin that I had better get this little lady to the kitchen before her mommy gets mad."

Lucy laughed and reached up to take Erin from him. "Is that so? And what did you say?"

"Oh no you don't. You could have those babies any time now, Luce. You don't need to be lifting Erin." Ben sat her down in her chair. "I told Munchkin that I wouldn't want her mommy to get mad at me because she can get pretty scary when she's mad."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Ben." She started to go over to the counter to get Erin's breakfast, but Ben stopped her. "I'll take care of getting Erin some breakfast. You go help Savannah get ready and then get ready yourself."

"And who's going to help Erin get ready? I'd hate to see what she'd look like if you dressed her and fixed her hair!" Lucy joked.

Ben laughed. "Mom should be ready by the time Erin's done eating. She can help her get ready."

"Okay. Let em know if you need anything," Lucy called over her shoulder as she headed towards Savannah's room.

Ben turned back to Erin. "Okay little lady, let's get you something to eat."

"Savannah, I want you to brush your teeth and your hair, make your bed, and pick up your room. I'm going to go get ready, then I'll come and help you get ready, okay?" Lucy instructed her daughter when she reached her room.

"Okay, Mommy," Savannah replied.

Lucy went into her room and shut the door. Tears filled her eyes. What was she doing laughing today, the day of Kevin's funeral? She felt almost as if she were betraying his memory by laughing when she should be crying. She brushed the tears away and walked over to her closet.

Lucy looked through the clothes hanging in her closet, looking for the black dress she was planning on wearing to the funeral. After a minute or so of looking, she found it. As soon as she pulled it out, she realized that it was not the black dress she had been looking for; rather, it was the black dress she had been wearing the night Kevin proposed.

Lucy backed up to the edge of her bed and sat down, still holding the dress. She smiled as she thought back to that night. Kevin had surprised her when he had gotten down on one knee and pulled out the ring. The words that the had spoken to her then, _"Lucy Camden, will you marry me?"_ echoed over and over again in her mind.

"_Yes, Kevin Kinkirk, I will marry you," was the answer she had given him that night. She had been so happy and so in love with Kevin. That day had been one of the best days of her life. _

_At that time, she never would have guessed that in less than eight years she'd be a widow, left with two children and two more on the way. Not that it would have changed a thing. Even if she had known then that she would only have eight years with Kevin before he died, she still would have agreed to marry him. Even though they'd only had eight years together, they were the best eight years of her life. She loved Kevin just as much, if not more, the day he died as she did when she'd agreed to marry him. _

_Lucy got up off the bed and hung the dress back in her closet. After a little more searching, she finally found the black dress she had been looking for. _

_After putting the dress on and doing her hair and makeup, she went back to Savannah's room, where Savannah was patiently sitting on her bed and waiting._

"_Okay, Savannah, let's get you dressed and ready to go," Lucy said. She walked over to Savannah's closet and pulled out the dark blue dress that she had ironed for Savannah yesterday. It was a dress that Savannah had just worn a couple of weeks ago to get her picture taken with Erin._

_Lucy took the dress off of the hanger and slipped it over Savannah's head. "Okay, Annah, let's see what we can do with your hair," she said, grabbing a brush and a hair bow off of the dresser._

_Twenty minutes later, Lucy, Savannah, Erin, Ben, and Karen were ready to leave for the church. Ben was carrying Erin and Lucy held Savannah's hand as they walked out to the car. After getting Erin all strapped into her booster seat, Lucy turned to Ben and handed him the keys. "You're going to have to drive. I can't fit behind the wheel anymore," she said quietly, her face flushed with embarrassment._

_Ben took the keys from her. "Luce, it's fine. That's nothing to be embarrassed about," he replied, in a voice equally as quiet as Lucy's had been."_

_He looked over at his mother, who was getting ready to open the door to the passenger's seat. "Mom, I'm driving. Why don't you let Lucy ride up front? That way she'll be more comfortable."_

"_Of course," Karen replied, giving Lucy a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry, Lucy. I remember how it was to not be able to fit behind the wheel of the car when I was pregnant. It's nothing to be embarrassed about." She climbed into the back seat and sat beside Savannah._

_Lucy walked around to the passenger side of the car and reached to open the door when an arm reached around her and opened it for her. She turned around and saw that Ben had followed her around the car. "Ben, I may not be able to fit behind the wheel, but I can still open my own car door."_

_Ben just ignored her and helped her into the passenger seat of the SUV. After making sure that she was completely in and settled, he shut the door, walked back around to the driver's side, and got in. After he had started the car and backed out of the driveway, he asked,, "Lucy, could you really have gotten up into the car by yourself?"_

_Lucy blushed. "No," she admitted softly. "I guess not." She shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable._

_Ben glanced over at her. "Are you okay?"_

_Lucy nodded. "I'm fine," she said quickly._

_Ben returned his eyes to the road but kept an eye on Lucy out of the corner of his eye. She changed positions several more times before reaching the church, and a couple of times, he saw her grimace._

_After Ben had parked the car, he turned around and looked at his mom. "Mom, can you take the girls and go on in?"_

_Although puzzled, Karen Kinkirk agreed._

_Once hi mom and the girls were on their way into the church, Ben turned back to Lucy. "Now, do you want to tell me the truth?" he asked._

_Lucy sighed. "Ben, I'm fine, really. My back is bothering me a little but, but that's nothing unusual."_

_Ben stared at her for a few minutes, trying to determine whether on not she was telling the truth. Finally, he sighed and said, "Alright, Luce. I believe you. But you have to promise to tell me the minute you feel anything slightly more than what you're feeling right now."_

"_I will, Ben, I promise. Believe me, I plan to have these babies at the hospital. Even though the hole in baby boy's heart has grown together, I would much rather deliver at the hospital than in an elevator or at the church."_

_Ben laughed as he got out of the car. "That's probably a good thing," he joked as he helped Lucy get out of the car._

_Lucy smiled and said dryly, "I'm glad you think so." She took the arm that Ben offered to her and walked with him towards the church_


	10. It Should Have Been Me

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get you this chapter!! I wasn't able to finish it before i left for college, and I didn't have any time until just the other day to finish it. I will try to get teh next chapter written quickly, but don't be surprised if this story is not updated for awhile. This chapter turned out a lot different from how I had originally planned, but I am very happy with it. For those of you who wanted me to focus a little more on how Roxanne was handling Kevin's death, I'm sure you'll enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chandler sat up on the platform in front of the large crowd of people that were there for Kevin's funeral. As he looked out over the crowd, he saw several people he recognized, but many people that he did not. As his eyes scanned the crowd, searching for familiar faces, he caught sight of the Camdens, Riveras, Petrowskis, and Kinkirks. His heart went out to Lucy. He couldn't imagine how hard it must be for her to be almost nine months pregnant and attending her husband's funeral.

Chandler's eyes continued on, stopping when he caught sight of his wife, Roxanne, dressed in full uniform, sitting beside her fellow officers and Chief Michaels. He could tell that she was struggling already. She and Kevin had been partners for so long. Not just partners, but good friends as well. He and Roxanne had spent a lot of time with Kevin and Lucy. It had not been unusual to find Chandler and Roxanne over at Kevin and Lucy's, or vice versa. Kevin's death was hard on him because he worked so closely with Lucy and had become close friends with Kevin, but it was even harder on Roxanne. She and Kevin had been partners. They had watched out for each other, and Roxanne was feeling like she had let not just Kevin, but also Lucy and the girls down because she hadn't been able to save Kevin.

Chandler sighed to himself. This was one funeral that, like Reverend Camden's, he would rather not do, but there was no way he would have let anyone else do it. Lucy had asked him to do it, and there was no way he would refuse her.

Chandler stood up and walked up to the front of the platform. "Today we are gathered here to remember the life of Kevin Kinkirk. Kevin died in the line of duty, doing his part to make sure that all of us were safe and that Glen Oak was free of crime. He was one of the most selfless men I have ever known. If you had a problem or needed help, he was always right there to help. He will be greatly missed by this community, his friends, and his family. His wife Lucy and his two beautiful daughters, Savannah and Erin, were his pride and joy."

"I don't know why God chose to take him away from his young girls and his wife, who is almost nine months pregnant with twins, but I do know that God has a reason for it. I know that this does not make it easier for those of you who knew and loved him, but we will see him again. As a very dear friend of mine once said, 'Who am I to question God?'" Chandler looked at Lucy, who had said those words at her dad's funeral. "Ruthie Camden, Kevin's sister-in-law, asked me if she could say something about Kevin."

Ruthie, who had been sitting beside Peter in the same pew as Lucy, walked up to the platform and stood behind the pulpit. "Kevin was like another brother to me. He and I had been close ever since he moved here when Lucy started dating him. He was someone I knew I could go to talk about things that I didn't want anyone else to know. He was the type of guy that you could go to when you had a problem and he'd do everything he could to fix it." Ruthie paused and brushed the tears from her eyes, then continued on in a shaky voice. "Kevin was not just a brother-in-law to me; he was a friend, a confidant, and an encourager. He was always there when I needed him, even if it meant taking time away from what he wanted to do. He was a great husband and father. He loved Lucy with all of his heart, and you could tell that from the way he acted when she was around and the way he treated her. When Savannah was born, and then a few years later Erin came along, Kevin always made sure to spend time with them. He loved them so much. Kevin, we're going to miss having you around and coming over to visit or to check up on things. You're my hero, Kevin."

Ruthie's voice cracked on the last sentence. She stepped down from the pulpit and walked back to her seat with tears streaming down her face. Once she had sat down, Peter put his arm around and whispered, "I'm so proud of you, honey. You did well."

Lucy leaned out to see around Annie, who was sitting between her and Ruthie. "Thank you, Ruthie." She mouthed, wiping tears from her eyes with her hand. When she leaned back, Ben offered her a Kleenex and she took it, giving him a grateful look.

"How are you holding up?" he whispered.

Lucy knew that Ben didn't mean just emotionally, he meant physically as well. "We're doing okay for now. We'll be better once the service is over and I can lie down," she whispered back.

Ben gave a slight nod and turned his attention towards the front again. Chief Michaels was the next person to give a eulogy.

"Kevin was not only one of my officers, he was also a friend. He was a man that I highly respected for the way that he was able to balance his job and his family. After Savannah was born, he even gave up doing police work, something that he loved, to be able to stay at home with her. Even after Erin was born and he came back to work, he always made sure to spend plenty of time with his family. They always came first. Kevin will be greatly missed here at the Glen Oak Police Department."

Before returning to his seat, Chief Michaels turned to Kevin's casket and, while fighting to keep the tears that glistened in his eyes from falling, saluted him.

Chandler stepped back up to the pulpit. "Roxanne Richardson Hampton, Kevin's partner, has worked with him since he first started at the Glen Oak Police Department. She would like to tell you about Kevin."

Roxanne slowly walked to the platform from where she had been sitting. She avoided eye contact with Chandler because she was afraid that if she looked at him, or anyone else for that matter, the tears that were threatening to fall would escape.

"Kevin was a great guy. He and I were partners for quote awhile before he quit to stay home with Savannah and I moved away. Eventually, I moved back here and he rejoined the police force and we were once again partners. He was the best partner that I've had. I trusted him with my life. He was not only a great partner, but he was also a great friend. He and Lucy would often come over to the apartment where Chandler and I lived and we would all spend the evening together. Kevin will be sorely missed by all of the Glenn Oak Police Department. It's not going to be the same without you around, Kevin. I'm going to miss having you as my partner. More than that, I'm going to miss having you as my friend. Goodbye, Kevin."

Roxanne stepped away from the pulpit, and, as Chief Michaels had done before her, turned and saluted the casket. She then walked back to her place among the other officers from the Glen Oak Police Department.

Once Roxanne had returned to her seat, she very discreetly wiped away the tears that she could no longer keep from falling. It was so hard to say goodbye to her partner and friend. She knew that it would not be the same, going into work everyday, without him there. She had always been able to count on him to watch her back. Several times he had kept her from being seriously wounded, if not killed. She felt as if she had somehow failed Kevin by not being able to stop the bullet that had killed him. Why Kevin? He had a loving wife and two beautiful little girls, with another girl and a boy on the way. Why not her? There would be a lot less people hurting if she had been the one who died, rather than Kevin. Her father had died a few years ago, so the only family she had now was Chandler.

Before long the funeral was over, although it seemed like hours to Roxanne. By the time she and Chandler arrived home late that night, all she wanted to do was go to bed.

"I'm going to bed," she told Chandler as they climbed the stairs to the garage apartment.

Chandler didn't say anything; he only nodded. Roxanne hadn't said a word the whole way home, and he knew it wasn't just because she was tired there was something bothering her. However, eh also knew that it had been a long, stressful, emotional day for both of them and it wouldn't be wise for him to push her into telling him what was bothering her right now.

As Roxanne began to prepare for bed, she was surprised to see Chandler getting ready for bed as well. "What are you doing? You never go to bed this early," she said.

"It's been a long day. I just figured I'd go to bed early tonight," he replied quietly.

"Don't you have stuff to do?" Roxanne asked shortly. All she wanted was to be alone, which was part of the reason she was going to bed so early, and now Chandler was going to bed as well, which meant no chance for her to be alone.

"It can wait."

Roxanne sighed. She turned around from where she was standing at the dresser and faced Chandler. "Look, why don't you go study for Sunday or something? I'm sure you can find something to do. You never seem to have a problem any other time." The minute those words left Roxanne's mouth, she regretted them. She regretted them even more so when she saw the look of hurt on Chandler's face.

"Um, okay, I guess I'll go work on my sermon," he said uncertainly. He left the bedroom and sat down on the couch. Had he really been that busy that he had been ignoring Roxanne? Her comment left him wondering if he had been so involved in studying for his sermons or doing other things that he had failed to spend time with her.

The more Chandler thought about it, the more he realized that he had indeed been overly busy lately. He couldn't remember the last time he and Roxanne had spent time together, just the two of them, talking or watching a movie, without him working on something or being distracted because of something that had happened that day.

Roxanne tossed and turned in bed. Why, oh why, had she said that? She had known when she married Chandler that the ministry was important to him and that it would take a lot of his time. She needed to learn to be content with spending time with him, even if she didn't have his full attention. She got up out of bed and quietly walked to the doorway of the bedroom. She could see Chandler sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. She walked up behind the sofa and put her hand on his shoulder.

Chandler jumped and turned around. He was surprised to see Roxanne standing there. He got up and walked around the sofa to where she stood. He took her in his arms and held her close to him. "I'm sorry, Roxanne. I've been too wrapped up with everything at church. I haven't been spending enough time with you, and when I have spent time with you I've been working on my sermon or so wrapped up in a problem at church that I haven't really been here. And then, of course, Kevin…"

Roxanne put her hand on Chandler's lips and stopped him from saying any more. "I'm sorry for what I said," she whispered. "I didn't mean it. It's just that I'm so tired and it's been a tough day. I shouldn't have said what I did. I know that you have lots of things to do that are important. I can't expect you to spend all of your time with me."

Chandler held her tighter. "Roxanne, I'm the one who's been wrong. I haven't been spending any time with you. You don't have a thing to apologize for. Everything that you said was true." He kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I'll do better, I promise. I love you, Roxanne," he whispered into her hair.

"I love you, too, Chandler," She whispered back, allowing herself to melt into his arms; letting his support all of her weight. A tear squeezed out of the corner of her eye and trickled its way down her cheek. She ignored it, hoping that Chandler wouldn't see it, but he did.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, concerned. "What's wrong? Something's been bothering you ever since the funeral. What is it?"

"It should have been me," she whispered. "It should have been me who died, and not Kevin. He has Lucy and the girls, and the twins, not to mention all of the Camdens. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been me?"

Chandler was shocked. He's had no idea that Roxanne felt that way. He gently picked her up in his arms, cradling her like a baby, went over to the sofa, and sat down with her on his lap. "Roxanne, look at me," he commanded softly.

Roxanne looked up at him with tear stained cheeks.

"Roxanne, I love you. I don't know what I would do if it had been you instead of Kevin. I don't think I'd be able to go on without you. You're all I have left since my dad died, Roxanne. You are my life. Please, please, don't ever think that you're worth so little that no one would care if it had been you who was shot." Chandler's voice was rough with emotion. "I love you so much. If it had been you I wouldn't have been able to stand it. That's why it was Kevin. Lucy has Savannah, Erin, and the twins to remind her of Kevin and to give her a reason to go on living, and she has the Camdens to love her and support her and help her through this. You're all I have, Roxanne." He pulled her tight against him and kissed her gently on the cheek.

Roxanne reached up and wrapped her arms around Chandler's neck, pressing herself against him tightly. She took a finger and brushed away a tear that had escaped from his eyes. "I love you, Chandler Hampton," she whispered.

"And I love you, Roxanne Hampton," he whispered back. "Now what do you say we go to bed and get some sleep? It's been a long day and we're both tired."


	11. Special Delivery

A/N: Here's the next chapter!! Chapter 12 is already in progress, so hopefully i'll be able to post it before too long. I hope you enjoy this chapter; i really enjoyed writing it. Not sure how many chapters are left, but the next chapter skips ahead about a year, so the story's kind of wrapping up. For all of you Emergency fans, I plan on starting on the sequel to No Greater Love once I finish this story.

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It had been just over a week since Kevin's funeral, and things were finally starting to get back to normal at the Kinkirk house, or at least as normal as they could be without Kevin. Patty Mary and Karen had returned to New York a couple of days after Kevin's funeral, and after they had left Ben had moved back into his own house after assuring Lucy he was only a phone call away and making her promise to call him if she needed anything. So far he had dropped by every day to check on Lucy and the girls and to see if they needed anything.

Lucy sighed as she sat down on the couch. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Savannah and Erin were finally down for their naps. Today had been a rough day. Her back had been bothering her all day, and it seemed like every time she turned around the girls had found some new mischief to get into. She tensed and took in a deep breath as a sharp pain shot through her back. "Ouch," she whispered, surprised. She glanced at the clock, and then closed her eyes again. A few minutes later, she felt another pain. She opened her eyes again to check the time. It had only been three minutes since the last one. She leaned back again, but this time kept her eyes on the clock. A little over four minutes later, another pain hit, this one lasting longer than the ones before it.

Once the pain had passes, Lucy picked up the phone and dialed Ben's cell phone number. It rang for a few minutes and then went to his voicemail. She hung up and then tried again, once again with no answer. She tried a third time with the same results. "Ben, why aren't you answering?" she asked, frustrated. She picked up the phone to try one more time.

"Luce? Is everything okay?" Ben asked, sounding breathless when he answered. "I just saw all your missed calls. What is it?"

"I think I need to go to the hospital," Lucy said, very matter-of-factly.

"What? Is it the babies? Are the babies coming?" Ben asked worriedly.

"Yes." Lucy paused for a moment as yet another pain hit, this one the sharpest and longest yet. "And Ben?"

"Yes?"

"I think you'd better hurry."

"I'm on my way, Luce. Hang on, okay? I'll be there as soon as I can."

Lucy hung up the phone, and then slowly made her way to her bedroom to get her bag that she had packed for the hospital. She then called Rose.

"Hello?" Rose answered.

"Rose? This is Lucy. Do you think you could come over and watch the girls for me?"

"Is it time?" Rose asked excitedly.

"Yes. Ben's on his way over now to take me to the hospital."

"Simon and I will be right over," Rose said. She then hung up the phone.

Lucy had to laugh. Rose had acquired the Camden trait of hanging up without saying goodbye.

Ten minutes later Ben arrived. He knocked on the door, and, when he didn't get an answer, he used his key to let himself in. "Lucy?"

"In here," Lucy called out. Her water had broken almost right after she'd gotten off the phone with Rose, and her labor was progressing very quickly.

Ben entered the living room and found Lucy laying on the couch, grimacing in pain. "How are you doing, Luce?"

Luce stated to answer, but instead worked on not yelling as the next contraction hit. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. Ben dropped down on his knees beside the couch and Lucy immediately grabbed his hand and began squeezing. When the contraction was over, Lucy said, "Call Matt. I'm not going to make it to the hospital."

Ben grabbed his cell phone and dialed Matt's number.

"Hello?"

"Matt, it's Ben. I'm with Lucy. She's in labor, and she says she's not going to make it to the hospital."

"I'm on my way. Let me talk to her." Matt commanded as he rushed out of his office.

"Matt?"

"Yeah, it's me, Luce. How are you doing?"

"Hurry, Matt, these babies are in a hurry to be born."

"I'm on my way, Luce. I need you to hang on for me, okay? I'll be there soon." Matt heard voices in the background, then Kevin got back on the phone.

"Lucy called Rose and Simon to watch the girls while I took her to the hospital and they just got here. They're going to take the girls over to the Camden house."

"Good," Matt said. "It will be better to have them out of the way. How's she doing?"

"The contractions are coming about every two minutes or so. She says they're pretty strong. These babies are really in a hurry to get here."

"Where is she?"

"She's on the couch."

"Do you thing she could make it to the bedroom?"

"Would it be easier for you?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll get her there."

"Okay. I'm about five minutes away now. I'm going to get off here and call Sarah and have her meet me there."

After Ben got off the phone with Matt, he turned his attention back to Lucy. "Luce? Do you think you can walk to the bedroom?"

"I can try," Lucy replied. She stood up, and with Ben's help, was able to take a couple of steps before the next contraction doubled her over.

Ben waited until the contraction had passed, then he picked Lucy up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom, with her protesting the whole way.

"Ben, I'm too heavy for you! Put me down!"

"I will, when we get to the bedroom," Ben calmly replied. When he reached the bedroom, he pushed the door open with his shoulder and gently set her down on the bed. By this time, Lucy was in the midst of another contraction, so she had stopped complaining. "Breathe, Luce. Come on, you can make it through this," Ben coached her.

When that contraction finally passed, Lucy asked, "When's Matt going to get here? I don't think these babies are going to wait much longer!"

Ben got a panicked look on his face. "They have to wait until Matt gets here! I don't want to deliver my niece and nephew!"

"I don't think they really care!" Lucy managed to get out through gritted teeth. Another contraction had hit. They were coming less than a minute apart now.

"Com on, Matt, where are you?" Ben asked under his breath. He glanced towards the doorway, hoping to see Matt walk through it.

"Ahh!" Lucy groaned, turning Ben's attention quickly back to her. Her face was white and her teeth were clenched tightly. "I need to push!" she gritted out.

"You can't push yet, Luce. You need to wait. You can hang on until Matt gets here, Luce, I know you can." Ben hoped that what he was saying was true, for both his sake and for Lucy's sake.

The contraction passed, and Lucy said, "These babies aren't going to wait any longer, Ben. I don't know where Matt is, but unless he gets here in the next couple of seconds, you're going to have to deliver these babies."

"What?! What do I do?" Ben asked, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to be delivering his niece and nephew.

"Get some towels to wrap the babies in once they're born. Also, get some…ahh!" Lucy groaned as another contraction hit.

Ben ran to the linen closet and threw open the door. He quickly grabbed two towels off of the shelf and then ran back to the bed., where Lucy was still fighting the contraction. "It's okay, Luce, just breathe. Scream if you have to. Go ahead and push if you think you need to," he said as he dialed Matt on his cell phone.

"Ben, I'm stuck in traffic! There was an accident, and there's no way for me to get around it. I couldn't get a hold of Sarah. How's Lucy?"

"Lucy's having the babies now!" Ben yelled into the phone. "She says she has to push. The contractions are coming less than a minute apart. These babies aren't going to wait any longer, Matt."

"Okay, Ben, you need to stay calm. It's not going to help Lucy or the babies if you panic. Get some clean towels or blankets. I'll talk you through everything," Matt said, much calmer than he felt.

Fifteen minutes later, Matt pulled into the Kinkirk's driveway and jumped out of his car without even turning it off. He ran up the front steps and into the house. When he reached the bedroom, he found Lucy lying on the bed with two tiny newborn babies wrapped in towels lying on top of her. Ben was standing next to the bed.

"Hi, Matt" Lucy said. "You're a little late."

"I can see that," Matt replied. "How's everyone doing? Is the squad on the way?"

"We're all doing just fine," Lucy replied.

"The squad should be here any minute now," added Kevin. "I called them as soon as I got off the phone with you."

Two hours later, both babies and Lucy were settled in the hospital. All of the Camden clan was gathered in Lucy's room.

"So, what are you going to name them?" asked Ruthie.

"Well, I was thinking that I would name the boy Eric Kevin, after his grandpa and his dad, and the girl I'm going to name Allison Michelle. It's the name that Kevin and I had picked out for her," Lucy answered.

Annie had tears in her eyes. "Eric Kevin? Oh, Luce, your dad and Kevin would both be so proud."

"Kevin and I had already planned on naming him Eric, but his middle name was going to be Michael, after Kevin's dad. I just thought it would only be right to name him after Kevin after everything that's happened," Lucy said, struggling to hold back the tears.

There were a few moments of awkward silence as everyone just stood there, not exactly sure of what to say. Finally, Matt spoke up. "Luce, Sarah and I have got to get going. I'm sure that the twins are driving the babysitter nuts by now. I'm on call tonight, so if I get called in I'll be sure to stop by and see you. Call me if you need anything." He leaned down and gave Lucy a hug.

"Thanks, Matt, Sarah. Give Keller and Liam hugs for me," Lucy said.

"We will," replied Sarah. "Now you get some rest, you hear? Soon enough you'll be home and these two will keep you awake all night."

"We should probably get going, too," Mary said after Matt and Sarah had left. "I'll be sure to stop by tomorrow to visit you and the twins."

"Okay, bye, Mary," Lucy said, giving her a hug. "Bring Charlie with you; I know how much he loves babies."

"I might. It's hard to get out with just Charlie, though. The twins always want to go wherever Charlie goes, and there's no way I'd bring Erica and Ava here, as much as they'd love to see the babies. They'd be way too loud."

Lucy laughed. Carlos and Mary's twin girls still hadn't learned the meaning of the word quiet.

Once Carlos and Mary had left, the nurse came to get Eric and Allison, who were sound asleep in their bassinets.

"We should probably get going, too, Lucy. You need your rest," Peter said.

"Oh, I see how it is," Lucy joked. "The babies leave and so does everyone else. I'll remember that when your and Ruthie's baby is born." Peter and Ruthie had told everyone about her pregnancy a few days after Kevin's funeral.

Ruthie laughed. "Come on, Peter, we'd better get going before Lucy thinks of any other ways of getting revenge."

After Peter and Ruthie left, it was just Annie, Sam, David, Simon, and Rose left in the room. Ben had gone home shortly after Lucy got settled in a room. He had wanted to give the Camden's some time alone with Lucy.

"Mom, we have a big history test tomorrow and we really need to study," David said. "Sorry, Lucy."

Lucy smiled. "That's okay, David. I remember what that was like. I wouldn't want you and Sam to get a bad grade on your test. Go on home and study. Good luck!"

"Thanks, Lucy," Sam and David called over their shoulders as they rushed out the door.

"Well, I suppose I'd better get going before they come back in here and drag me out," Annie said. "I think that we should have let them play sports long before this. They've never been so concerned about doing well on their schoolwork as they have been since they started playing sports."

Lucy laughed. "Okay, Mom. I'll see you later. Love you."

Once Annie was gone, Rose looked at Simon. "Should we tell her?" she asked.

"Tell me what?" Lucy wanted to know.

"In about six months you're going to have another niece or nephew. Rose is pregnant!" Simon announced.

"Oh, Rose, I'm so happy for you!" Lucy squealed. "How long have you known?"

"We've known for a couple of moths now, but we wanted to wait to tell everyone, just to be sure," Rose replied. "We can't really wait much longer; I'm starting to show a little bit."

"Does anyone else know yet?"

Simon shook his head. "We were planning on telling everyone on Sunday at lunch, but we wanted to tell you tonight. We wanted you to be the first to know."

"I'm so happy for you guys! It's hard to believe that you're going to be a dad, Simon."

"Not as hard as it is to believe that Ruthie's going to be a mom," Simon reminded her.

"That's true. I still find that hard to believe."

"I know; me too. I think everyone is, actually. We've always thought of Ruthie as the baby of the family, even after Sam and David came along. It's hard to remember sometimes that she's married and is going to be a mom."

"I know what you mean. Everything's changing so quickly. Ruthie's going to be a mom; you're going to be a dad; Sam and David graduate from high school next year. Pretty soon it will just be Mom left in the house."

"No, she won't be in the house after Sam and David graduate, remember? The agreement that was made between Mom, Chandler, and the deacons was that once Sam and David graduated from high school, Chandler and Roxanne would get the house," Simon reminded her.

"That's right; I forgot about that. It's going to seem weird with someone besides Mom living in the house, even if it is Chandler and Roxanne. I guess everything can't stay the same forever." Lucy glanced at the clock. "It's getting late; you two should probably be getting home. You need your rest, Rose."

"So do you, Lucy. You've had quite an eventful day," a male voice said from the doorway.

Lucy, Simon, and Rose looked over at the door and saw Ben standing there.

"Ben! What are you doing here?" she asked.

Ben walked into the room. "I came to see you and my niece and nephew. What else would I be doing here?"

Simon cleared his throat. "Rose and I are going to go ahead and get going now. We'll see you later, Lucy."

Once Simon and Rose had left, Ben sat down in the chair next to the bed. "How are you holding up?" he asked. "I know it's hard on you not having Kevin here."

Lucy sighed. "It is hard. He's always been here before. With Savannah and Erin, he was with me for the delivery. He even helped deliver Savannah. It's so hard knowing that he'll never see or hold Eric and Allison."

Ben got up out of the chair and sat down on the bed beside Lucy as tears gathered in her eyes. "Lucy, you are strong. If anyone can get through this, you can. Eric and Allison may never meet their dad, but they'll know that he was an amazing man. I promise that they will not grow up without hearing stories about their amazing dad. Just like you and all of her aunts and uncles tell Erin about her Grandpa Camden, Eric and Allison will be told about their dad. I promise that I will not let them grow up without knowing what a great man their dad was."


	12. Changes

Here you go: another chapter in "The Love of My Life" I hope you enjoy it. This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write. I've put a little twist into this story that you probably weren't expecting, please review and tell me what you think!. :)

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"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Eric and Allison, Happy Birthday to you!"

It was the twins' second birthday, and all of the Camdens, Riveras, Petrowskis, Ben, and Roxanne and Chandler were gathered to help Lucy, Savannah, Erin, and the twins celebrate.

It had been just over two years since Kevin died. The anniversary of his death had been hard on everyone, but it had been especially hard on Lucy, Ben, and Roxanne. Lucy was still adapting to life as a single mom. Ben was finding it hard to adjust to life without his older brother, who had also been his confidant and friend. Roxanne had gone through several temporary partners before finally getting a new permanent partner about three months ago.

Just when they thought that things were starting to get back to normal, Ben and Lucy both received a phone call about two months after the twins were born. The phone call was from Karen Kinkirk's lawyer in New York. Karen had suffered a massive heart attack while driving home from a concert and had crashed into a tree. Both she and Patty Mary, who had been with her in the car, had died instantly.

That had been a hard time for Ben as well as Lucy. Ben, who had already been spending quite a bit of time at the Kinkirk's house, had begun spending a lot more time there, playing with Savannah and Erin, helping Lucy with Eric and Allison, and watching the kids so that Lucy could take a nap. When he wasn't working, he was almost always at the Kinkirks.

Lucy had been thankful for the extra help. Allison had started sleeping through the night when she was a month old, but Eric was almost four moths old before he started sleeping through the night, which meant a lot of sleepless nights for Lucy. She was grateful that Ben came over so often to watch the kids so she could sleep.

"Lucy," Matt said, snapping Lucy back to the present.

"I'm sorry, what did you say, Matt? I didn't hear you," Lucy said.

"I asked if you wanted some cake," Matt replied. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine; just tired, that's all."

"Lucy, you need to get more sleep. You look exhausted."

"And when can I do that? I get up, make Savannah's breakfast, get her ready for school, put her on the bus, by then the twins and Erin are usually awake, I feed them breakfast, take them to Mom's, go to the church, pick up the twins, Erin, and Savannah on my way home, make dinner, put the kids to bed, do housework, then go to bed. It's not like I have any extra time that I can sleep."

Matt sighed. "Luce, I know we've had this discussion before, but I really wish you'd hire someone to do your housework and help you out. You can't do it all by yourself."

"Why not? Other single mothers do."

"Lucy, most other single mothers don't have a seven-year-old, a four-and-a half-year-old, and two-year-old twins. You have your hand full. You can't do everything by yourself. If you try, you're going to wear yourself out and then someone will have to help you."

Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll think about getting a mother's helper. I'm not making any promises, though."

"I'll take that for now. I'm not trying to be bossy, Lucy, I'm just trying to help."

"I know, Matt. I've thought about having someone take the girls on the weekends so I can get stuff done, but I feel like that's the only time that I get to spend with them. If someone else took them, I'd never get to see them."

"Why don't Sarah and I watch them tonight? They can spend the night at our house. Keller and Liam will love having them there."

"Are you sure? They're going to be all wound up from the party," Lucy warned him.

"I know; so will Keller and Liam. They can wear all their energy out on each other," Matt replied. "Sarah's the one who suggested it, so I know she'll be okay with it."

"Okay," Lucy agreed. "I'll try it for this weekend and see how it goes. It will be strange just having the twins and not Savannah and Erin."

"It will give you a chance to get some rest and maybe get some stuff done. We'll drop the girls by sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening."

Two hours later, the twins were in bed and everyone had left except for Ben. Lucy collapsed unto the couch and leaned her head back. "I am so glad I agreed to let Matt and Sarah take Savannah and Erin tonight. I am exhausted!"

Ben sat down on the couch next to her. "Luce, are you okay? You've lost weight, and you always have dark circles under your eyes."

Lucy groaned. "Do I really look that bad?" she asked.

"I don't think many other people have noticed. You do a good job of covering it up."

Lucy sighed. "I'm fine; just tired. The weeks always seem so long and tiring."

"Luce, you need help. You can't so it all on your own; it's too much for you. "

"Don't you start in on me getting a mother's helper, too. You're as bad as Matt," Lucy exclaimed.

"I'm not saying you have to get a mother's helper; I'm just saying you need help. Let those who care about you help, Lucy."

"Ben, they're already doing all they can. Mom watches the twins and Erin during the day while Savannah's at school; I'm constantly getting invitations to dinner at various siblings' houses. Chandler's been doing more and more of the counseling at church to give me a break…" Lucy trailed off.

"That's not what I mean, Luce. Let me help you. I'll come over on my days off and watch the twins and Erin so you don't have to worry about getting them up and fixing them breakfast in time to take them to your mom's house. I can fix up some things around here that are starting to look rather run down. I'll even stay after you get home and help you get the kids in bed."

"Ben, I couldn't ask you to do that. You come over enough already. You'll never get anything done at your house."

"Lucy, look at me," Ben's voice was firm but gentle. "I want to do this, Luce. Please let me."

"Why?" Lucy whispered.

"Because I care about you. I hate seeing you so worn out and tired all the time," Ben replied, his voice soft.

"Ben-" Lucy said, her voice catching.

"What is it, Luce?" Ben gently prodded.

"Ben, I don't know if I'm ready for this," she said, sadness filling her voice. She knew exactly what Ben had meant when he said he cared about her. It was no longer care of a brother-in-law for his widowed sister-in-law. Rather, it was the care that a man has for the woman he likes. "When did this happen?" she whispered.

"I don't know, Luce," Ben replied honestly. "All I know is that I no longer care for you only as a sister-in-law. I've fought it, believe me. I've fought it for quite awhile. I tried to ignore the feeling, I really did, but I couldn't. The more I fought it, the stronger it became."

Lucy's eyes filled with tears. "I can't. It wouldn't be right."

Ben's eyes caught hers and he saw something in there that he had seen before, but had just shrugged it off. "Lucy, tell me the truth, please. Do you feel anything for me?"

"Yes, I do," Lucy cried. "That's what scares me. I don't know when it happened, but one day I started seeing you as someone besides Kevin's brother. I started seeing you in a different light. You were no longer the brother of my dead husband; rather, you were someone that I began to have feelings for, that I cared about. I do care about you, but at the same time, I can't stop thinking about Kevin. I feel almost like I'm dishonoring his memory by having feelings for someone else." By now tears were streaming down Lucy's face.

"Luce, come here," Ben said, pulling her into his arms. He held her tightly against him, gently brushing away her tears with his hand. "Luce, I struggled with the same thing. I kept telling myself that I couldn't have feelings for you; that you were Kevin's wife."

"Ben, you're a firefighter," Lucy said, her voice muffled against Ben's chest. "It's not exactly the safest job in the world. I don't know if I could stand it if anything happened to you."

"Lucy, I can't promise you that I'll always be here. I wish I could, but because of my job, I can't. I can promise you this, though. I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing happens to me."

Lucy searched Ben's eyes and what she saw in there comforted her. "My brothers aren't going to make this easy for you," she warned.

A slow smile spread across Ben's face. "Does that mean what I think it does?"

Lucy smiled. "Yes, Ben, it means that I will give a relationship with you a chance."

Ben pulled her back up against him into a gentle hug. "Luce, I promise that I will not hurt you. We can take it as slow or as fast as you want."

Lucy laid her head back down against Ben's chest. "You do know what you're getting yourself into, don't you? I'm not going to be like the other women you've dated. I've been married before, and I have four young children to look after. All of that and the church keep me pretty busy."

"I know that, Luce, and I don't care. I love the kids, and I realize that they and the church are your main focus. I also realize that most of the time our dates will probably consist of feeding the kids and putting them to bed, then spending a few minutes alone before I leave so you can get to bed as well, and I don't care. I'm okay with that."

Simon was sitting on the couch in his and Rose's living room waiting for Rose to come back down from putting their one-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Anne, to bed. As he sat there, he thought back on Eric and Allison's birthday party, and how different things from how they'd been five years ago. The family had grown greatly. Lucy had four kids now, Ruthie was married and she and Peter had a boy, Daniel Kevin, who was just a few days older than his and Roses' little girl. Although they had grown, the loss of both his dad and Kevin was still greatly felt.

"Simon? What's on your mind?" Rose asked, startling Simon, who hadn't heard her come back in.

"Nothing much, just thinking about how much things have changed," Simon replied.

"Like what?" Rose asked.

"Well, Dad and Kevin are both dead. Ruthie's married and has a kid, I'm married and have a kid, Lucy is a single mom with four kids, and Sam and David are getting ready to graduate form high school here in a few weeks. Everything's just so different from how it used to be." He sighed. "Everything seemed so simple when I was a kid. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days, where I didn't have to worry about anything because I knew that Mom and Dad were there and they'd take care of everything for me."

"I feel that way, too, sometimes. What else is bothering you? I can tell that there's something up."

Simon sighed. "I don't know if I'm just imagining things or what, but I have a feeling that there's something going on between Ben and Lucy."

"What makes you think that?'

"I don't know; there was just something about the way Ben would look at Lucy when he thought no one was looking, and I saw Lucy do it sometimes, too. There was a light in Lucy's eyes that I haven't seen there for awhile, not since Kevin died. Maybe I'm just imagining things."

"No, I saw it, too, Simon. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed it or not. How do you feel about it? Are you okay with the fact that Lucy and Ben might like each other?"

"I don't really know, Rose," he replied, pulling her down to sit next to him on the couch. Rose rested her head on his shoulder. "I guess it's just hard for me to picture Lucy with anyone except Kevin, especially considering Ben is Kevin's brother. I know that Kevin's been gone for two years now, but it's still hard. I never really thought about the fact that someday Lucy might find someone else, and I definitely never thought about the possibility of something happening between Ben and Lucy."

"I think that if it's what Lucy wants, then we shouldn't stand in her way. She's been through enough without having to fight us to be in a relationship with someone she cares about."

"I suppose you're right. It's just kind of hard to imagine her with anyone besides Kevin. It will be good for her, though. Ben will help her, and that's what she needs right now. She looked so tired tonight. I realized tonight just how hard it was for her as a single mom. I was going to call a family meeting to work out a schedule to help her, but I think I'll wait and see where this thing with Ben goes."

Rose was about to say something when the phone rang. "I'll get it," she said. She leaned over and grabbed the phone off of the side table. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hi, Rose, it's Ruthie. Can I talk to Simon?"

"Sure, hang on a minute," Rose said. She covered the mouthpiece, "Simon, it's Ruthie. I'm going to go to bed and leave you two to talk." She gave him a kiss then handed him the phone.

"Hey Ruthie," Simon answered as he watched Rose leave the room. "What's up?"

"Lucy. She looked so tired tonight, Simon. I hadn't realized just how tired she was until tonight," Ruthie said.

"I know. Rose and I were just talking about that. I was thinking of calling a family meeting to discuss a schedule to help her, but I think it'd be best to wait for right now."

"I'm guessing you saw the same thing that I did tonight?"

"If what you saw was that Ben and Lucy's relationship has changed, then, yes, I did."

"Yes. I was wondering if anyone else had seen it. At first I was surprised, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that it's a good thing. Lucy needs someone to help her, and she looked happier than I'd seen her in a long time tonight."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too. Even though she looked absolutely exhausted, she had this light in her eyes that I haven't seen since Kevin died. She even acted a little more like the old Lucy tonight."

"Do you think anyone else noticed?"

"Rose did. I'm sure that if we noticed then Mom definitely noticed. For all we know, she may have already known about it."

Simon was right. Annie had noticed. Although she hadn't already known, she had kind of suspected that something was going on. Ben had been hanging around Lucy's house even more than usual recently, and Lucy always seemed to be quite happy when he was around. Interestingly enough, it didn't surprise her. Ben and Lucy seemed to be perfect for each other, and the kids loved him. Although it was going to take some getting used to, Annie knew that she would enjoy having Ben in the family if he and Lucy decided to get married.

"Mom, I can't find my diamond necklace! Do you know where it is?" Lucy yelled from her bedroom. She was getting ready a date with Ben, and Annie had come over to watch the kids.

Annie came and stood in the doorway. "The last time I saw it was when you wore it for Sam and David's graduation last week. What did you do with it after you took it off?"

Lucy smacked her forehead with her hand. "I stuck it in the back pack! Allison was pulling on it, so I took it off so she wouldn't break it. I totally forgot about it until now."

Annie smiled as Lucy rushed off to the twins' room to rummage in their back pack for the necklace. Since Lucy had started dating Ben, she had become her normal, happy, absent-minded self. Annie had seen her so happy at least since before Kevin had died, if not before Eric had died. Today was her and Ben's one year anniversary, and Ben was taking her out to eat at someplace very special. Annie had a feeling that Lucy might come back with a ring on her finger, but she didn't know for sure. Ben had asked her, as well as Matt, Carlos, Simon, Peter, Sam, and David, for permission to ask Lucy to marry him, and, of course, they had all said yes. It had taken some of them longer than others to get used to the idea of Ben marrying Lucy, but they were starting to get used to it.

"I found it!" Lucy called triumphantly as she came back in the room. She fastened the necklace around her neck. "There; I'm all ready to go now. Ben should be getting here any minute now. Call me if you need anything," Lucy said, starting to rattle of her usual list of instructions to Annie. Thankfully, the doorbell interrupted her, keeping Annie from having to hear what she had heard a thousand times before.

"That must be Ben!" Lucy exclaimed, heading towards the door. Savannah beat her to it, however.

"Uncle Ben!" exclaimed Savannah.

"Hey Munchkin, How are you?" Ben asked, giving her a hug.

"I'm good. Mommy's all ready for you; you probably shouldn't keep her waiting any longer. She doesn't have very much patience," she said very matter-of-factly.

Lucy, Ben, and Annie did the best they could to hide their laughter. When Ben could finally talk without laughing he said, "Is that so?"

Savannah nodded her head. "Yes, it is," she said very seriously.

"Well then, I guess I shouldn't keep her waiting. Give her a hug and a kiss and we'll get going," Ben said.

"Okay," Savannah said happily. She gave Lucy a hug and a kiss, and once Erin, Eric, and Allison had all received their hugs and kisses too, she shooed Ben and Lucy out the door.

Once Ben and Lucy were safely inside Ben's car, they burst out laughing."Savannah amazes me sometimes with how grown up she is," Lucy said once they had calmed down. "Sometimes I find it hard to remember that she's only seven because she's so mature. She's a lot like-" Lucy stopped without finishing her sentence.

"She's a lot like Kevin, I know. Luce, look at me," Ben commanded gently. He waited until she was looking, then went on. "It's okay to talk about Kevin. He's the father of all four of your children, and you loved him very much. You don't have to avoid talking about him when I'm around just because we're dating, okay?"

"Okay," Lucy said.

Ben started the car, then looked back at Lucy. "I love you, Luce."

"I love you, too, Ben," Lucy said. She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "Now we'd better get going or we're going to be late and we'll miss our reservation."

Twenty minutes later, Ben and Lucy had arrived at the restraint and had just been seated at their table. "I'll be right back, Luce," Ben said. "If the waiter comes while I'm gone, just order me whatever you decide to get."

"Okay," said Lucy distractedly. She was looking intently at the menu, trying to decide what to order.

Ten minutes later, Ben returned.

"Where did you go?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Oh, I had to make a quick phone call. I'd gotten a call right before getting to your house and didn't have a chance to return it."

"Oh, okay," Lucy said, content with what Ben had told her.

Ben was relieved. He had been telling the truth about making a phone call, but he had lied about someone calling him. Truth be told, he had called Peter. He had been hoping that Lucy would be running late as usual so that he would have a chance to talk to Annie before they left, but she had been on time for once, giving him no opportunity to talk to Annie without Lucy around.

After Ben and Lucy had finished their meal, the waiter came to the table. "Would you like desert tonight?"

"No, thank you," Ben spoke up before Lucy had a chance to say anything. He ignored Lucy's questioning glance. He took the bill that the waiter handed to them.

Once the waiter had left, Lucy asked, "Why aren't we getting dessert?" It wasn't normal for Ben to turn down dessert.

Ben just smiled. "You'll see," he replied.

About twenty minutes later, Ben and Lucy had just pulled into a parking lot. There were only two or three other cars in the parking lot.

"Ben? Where are we?" Lucy asked.

Ben just smiled. "You'll see," was all he said. They walked a few feet, then Ben said, "Close your eyes."

"What? Why?" Lucy asked.

"Just close your eyes," Ben replied. "You'll see."

Lucy sighed but did as she was told. Once she had closed her eyes, Ben took her hand and began to lead her. After a couple of minutes, Lucy felt her feet leave the pavement and touch something soft and giving. She gasped.

"It's okay, Luce, it's only sand. We're at a beach. Only a little farther," Ben reassured her.

After a couple more minutes Ben let go of her hand and said, "Okay, now open your eyes."

Lucy opened her eyes and gasped. On the sand were candles that formed the shape of a heart, and in the middle was Ben, down on one knee, holding a ring.

"Lucy, will you marry me?" asked Ben.

Tears filled Lucy's eyes. "Yes! Yes, I will marry you," she exclaimed.

Ben stood up and took her hand, pulling her into the center of the heart with him. He then slipped the ring onto her finger. "I love you, Lucy," he said before leaning down and kissing her.

"I love you, too," Lucy said when they broke apart. "How did you-? When did you-?"

Ben laughed. It wasn't often that Lucy was speechless. "I've actually been planning this for about a month or so. Peter helped me, and he and Ruthie came over and set all of this up for me." he explained. He leaned down and touched something that was itting just outside the light of the candles. Second later, music started playing. Ben pulled Lucy back into his arms and started dancing with her to their song.

I am amazed  
When i look at you  
I see you smiling back at me  
It's like all my dreams come true  
I am afraid  
If i lost you girl  
I'd fall through the cracks  
And lose me track in this crazy lonely world

Sometimes it's so hard to believe  
When the nights can be so long  
And gave me the strength  
And kept me holding on

You are the love of my life  
And I'm so glad you found me  
You are the love of my life  
Baby put your arms around me  
I guess this is how it feels  
When you finally find something real  
My angel in the night  
You are my love  
The love of my life

Now here you are  
With midnight closing in  
You take my hand as our shadows dance  
With moonlite on you skin

I look in your eyes  
I'm lost inside your kiss  
I think if i'd never met you  
About all the things i'd missed

sometimes it's so hard to believe  
when a love can be so strong  
and faith gave me the strength  
and kept me holding on

You are the love of my life  
And I'm so glad you found me  
You are the love of my life  
Baby put your arms around me  
I guess this is how it feels  
When you finally find something real  
My angel in the night  
You are my love  
The love of my life

_-The Love of My Life, Jim Brickman_


	13. A Happy Ending

Here is the final chapter in this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

"There," Ruthie said, "your hair is done."

Lucy turned and looked at herself in the mirror. "Thank you so much, Ruthie!! It looks gorgeous!"

Ruthie smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Are you nervous?"

Lucy turned to Ruthie and looked at her with huge eyes. "I'm terrified! You'd think that since this is my second wedding I wouldn't be nervous, but I am." She reached up and fingered the necklace that she had on; it was a simple gold chain with Kevin's wedding band on it. "When Kevin died, I never would have dreamed that I would be standing here in a wedding gown, getting ready to walk down the aisle to marry Ben. At that time I couldn't see myself ever falling in love again. Had someone told me then that today I would be standing here, getting ready to marry Ben, I would have laughed and said it was impossible."

Mary, who was also in the room to help Lucy get ready, spoke up. "Lucy, can I ask you a question? Do you still love Kevin? I mean, I know that you love Ben, but do you still love Kevin at all? Do you still miss him?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, Mary, I do miss Kevin. There are still days where I think of him; there are still days when it hurts, but my love for Ben and Ben's love for me has helped to lessen that pain; it's helped to heal what I thought could never be healed. Yes, I still love Kevin; I'll always love Kevin, but that love is different now. I'm not really sure how to explain. Kevin was my first husband, the first person I had ever really, truly, deeply cared for. That's not going to change, but he's dead now. I can honestly say that I love Ben as much as, if not more than, I ever loved Kevin."

Savannah came bursting into the room just then. "Mommy, Aunt Roxanne said to tell you that someone wants to see you. She said to let you know that it's not Ben."

Lucy laughed. Ben had been trying to see her all day, which is why Roxanne had told Savannah to make sure her mom knew it wasn't Ben. "Okay, tell whoever it is that they can come in," she replied.

Savannah nodded and then rushed back out of the room. She had only two speeds: fast and faster. She never sat still, which kept Lucy constantly on her toes.

A few moments later, Lucy, who had been watching the door, trying to figure out who it was that wanted to see her, squealed. She rushed towards the doorway. At the same time, the visitor rushed towards her. They met halfway.

"Sandy! I can't believe you're here! How did you know? How are you? Are Aaron and Jonathan here? When did you get here? Oh, it's so good to see you!" Lucy rushed out all at once, her face flushed with excitement.

Sandy laughed. "Believe it or not, Ruthie called Martin. She knew how close you and I were, and she figured that you would want me to be here for this. Ruthie had called Martin when Kevin died, and he called me. According to Martin they've been keeping in touch occasionally since then, so I knew that you were dating Ben. When Ruthie called to tell Martin that you were engaged, I was there dropping Aaron off for a visit and I was thrilled. I wanted to call or send a card or something, but Ruthie insisted that I keep it a secret. She wanted me to be able to surprise you today."

Lucy turned to thank Ruthie, but discovered that she and Mary had slipped out sometime during all the commotion. "I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed again.

"It's so good to be back. We were here for Kevin's funeral, but there were so many people around you that I never got a chance to say hi. That was the first time since Beau moved that we'd been back. With Martin off at college and Beau living somewhere else, there was no longer any reason for us to visit." Beau Brewer had moved from Glenn Oak shortly before Reverend Camden died. "We wanted to come to your dad's funeral, and we were planning on it, but I was pregnant with Leah at the time, and she decided to make her appearance the day before the funeral."

Sandy and Jonathan had gotten married about a year before Reverend Camden had died. They had moved to Crossroads about a month later so that Sandy could be the pastor there, and she had gotten pregnant about two months after that. Lucy had received the birth announcement in the mail, but things had been in such turmoil then that she'd forgotten about it.

"I remember getting her birth announcement now; things were so hectic and in such an upheaval that I never got a chance to send you a card or gift."

Sandy gave her a smile. "I understand. I didn't expect anything; I knew how upset and busy you were. I should have kept in better contact than I have; it's been six years since I moved away, and since then I can count on one hand the number of times I've called or written you. About the only correspondence I've had with you lately is the yearly Christmas card and letter I always send out."

"It's as much my fault as it is yours, Sandy. I could have just as easily picked up the phone and called you or written you an email or letter. But never mind that now. I'm just so glad you're here!"

Their reunion was interrupted by a knock on the door followed by Matt poking his head in. "Hey, Luce, Sandy, it's almost time to start. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I think so," Lucy replied.

Lucy, Sandy, and Ruthie walked out of the room. Sandy went into the auditorium and Ruthie, Lucy, and Matt went to join Mary, Rose, and Sarah, who were standing by the doors waiting until it was time to go in.

Soon it was time for the bridesmaids to start down the aisle. As they did so, Matt turned to Lucy. "Are you ready, Luce?"

Lucy took a deep breath and then let it out. She then nodded her head. "Yes, I'm ready," she replied.

They watched Savannah, Erin, Allison, and Eric, who were the flower girls and ring bearer go down the aisle, then the wedding march began to play and Lucy and Matt started down the aisle.

As Annie watched Lucy walk down the aisle towards Ben, she thought of how proud she was of her daughter. Four years ago, when Kevin died, she had wondered how Lucy would make it without Kevin because of how heartbroken she was. She never would have imagined then that she would be watching her walk down the aisle to marry anyone, much less Ben.

Lucy and Matt reached the front of the church where Ben was waiting. Matt leaned down and gave Lucy a kiss on her check. "I'm proud of you, Lucy. We all are," he whispered in her ear. He then gave her hand to Ben

Lucy smiled at Matt and then walked with Ben the rest of the way to where Chandler was standing. Before she knew it, it was item for the vows.

"I, Ben, take you, Lucy, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise to stand by you in sickness and in health, in joys and in sorrows, in good times and in bad. I promise to love you without reservation, comfort you when you are saddened, encourage you to achieve your goals, laugh with you, and to cry with you. Most of all, I promise to honor and respect you and to love you as long as we both shall live."

"I, Lucy, take you, Ben, to be my husband, my best friend, my love. Together we will build a home. I promise to be true to you, to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy, and when it is hard, when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to be a faithful and true partner to you, to love you, to honor and respect you, and to obey you. From now until the end of time, I pledge my heart, my soul, my life, to you."

Chandler said, "Before he died, Eric wrote a letter to whomever would be doing Ruthie's wedding. He asked that the following passage of scripture be read right before the rings are exchanged. Although he had no idea at the time he wrote this that Lucy would be widowed and then get remarried, I'm sure he would want it to be read at here at her wedding as well: 'Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.' Eric wanted me to challenge you to remember the words that were read here today, and live them each day in your love. May I have the rings?"

Eric stepped towards Chandler and held up his pillow to him. Chandler leaned down and took the rings off of the pillow.

Chandler handed Ben Lucy's ring. "Chandler, repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," repeated Ben as he slipped the ring on Lucy's finger.

Chandler then turned to Lucy and handed her Ben's ring. "Lucy, repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," recited Lucy as she slipped the ring onto Ben's finger.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Ben, you may kiss your bride," Chandler instructed, smiling.

Ben pulled Lucy close to him, leaned down and kissed her.

When the kiss was over, Chandler said, "Ladies and gentleman, it gives me great pleasure to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Ben Kinkirk."


End file.
